The Second Coming of the Legendary Sannin
by Nandron
Summary: Naruto and Kimiko, Naruto's twin sister, were born five years prior to the Kyūbi rampage where their little sister Aiko will become it's jinchūriki. Together with their friend Uchiha Itachi how will they rise through the ranks of Konohagakure no Sato? Naruto x OC, Sharingan!Naruto Mokuton!Kimiko, Prodigy!Naruto&Kimiko
1. Prologue

**The Second Coming of the Legendary Sannin**

 **Chapter 1**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I would Sasuke and Sakura would've died way back in Wave and Haku would be a girl. I mean seriously "he" looks like a friggin' girl!**

* * *

 **October 10th**

Today should've been a normal day for the twins Naruto and Kimiko. They were the children of the Yondaime Hokage and Kiiroi Senkō, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina. When they were born both parents were ecstatic. They showered both of them with love but kept careful not to spoil them. At their current five years of age, Naruto and Kimiko can both already be seen as prodigies in their respective areas.

While Kimiko shows great promise in ninjutsu and taijutsu, as well as kenjutsu, Naruto shows great promise in genjutsu and ninjutsu. When both unlocked their chakra at the age of four, without their parents' knowledge, both parents were flabbergasted. The fact that two four-year-olds unlocked their chakra without help was astounding. Both already possessed genin-level chakra reserves, yet Naruto has better control over it thus his already developing skill in genjutsu.

What Kimiko does not have in chakra control she has in her sensory capabilities. Because right after unlocking their chakra Kimiko stated that their parents seem to be hurrying to them for some reason. When Minato and Kushina arrived at their children's location they couldn't believe what they told them, especially about Kimiko's sensing ability since sensor-nins are rather rare.

While in looks Naruto definitely takes after their father, having spiky blonde hair, cerulean blue eyes and tanned skin, Kimiko rather takes after their mother. Silky crimson hair reaching down to her shoulders, a heart-shaped face, and purple eyes.

Today it was about two weeks after their birthday on which both couldn't even think about their presents they got since they were too ecstatic about their mother being highly pregnant at that moment and they couldn't wait for another sibling. Even though they are considered as prodigies they are still children who can't simply sit still, even if Naruto is slightly calmer. But when they heard they couldn't be there when their mom gave birth they were kind of sad. But their father made up for it by promising that Kakashi would do some chakra control exercises with them since he learned that they always were extremely happy about training.

Both almost immediately they turned their attention towards their father thanked him extensively. When Kakashi heard of this his only response was an okay and an eye-smile. And after a few glares from Kushina, he didn't even think about coming too late. Seriously why are women so scary when they are angry or furious. Still, at least half an hour won't hurt, right?

Now currently it was around 5 pm and Naruto and Kimiko were both attempting the chakra control exercise Kakashi presented them with. They already were able to balance three leaves in Kimiko's case and seven leaves in Naruto's case. Currently, they were attempting to climb a tree without their hands. When Kakashi told them to do that they both at first didn't know what to think but it didn't take long for Naruto to figure out that it meant to concentrate chakra in their soles.

Their confirmation if the theory was correct came in the form of another eye-smile. So they attempted with Naruto taking about four attempts to make it up the tree which completely shocked Kakashi since even he took a few days to learn this and he was considered a prodigy on the level of bordering Minato when he was in the academy.

' _If he can already tree climb after only a few attempts he may be a prodigy on the level of someone like Orochimaru or even being better than Minato-sensei in the academy._ ', thought Kakashi when he suddenly heard someone brashly shout out that it was too difficult.

Looking over to Kimiko he noticed Naruto making his way over to her. Once he arrived he smiled kindly like always, "Don't worry Nee-chan I'm sure you will do this. I believe in you! It's not that difficult you just need to find the needed amount of chakra to stick to the tree. You can start with a larger of used chakra and gradually lower the used amount until you stick to the surface."

Seeing the usual look of determination return to Kimiko's face Kakashi smiled at the brother/sister interaction. Taking Naruto's tips into consideration Kimiko tried once again starting with a considerable amount of chakra and once she touched the tree, flew about ten meters away, where Kakashi caught her before she could seriously hurt herself since Kushina would most likely kill him when she found out he didn't do anything to prevent her from hurting herself.

After twenty minutes of intense being blown away from the tree, Kimiko finally managed to find the right amount of chakra to perfectly stick to the bark of the tree. Even if it took longer than Naruto's attempts it was still unheard of. Two five-year-olds mastering the tree-walking exercise in about roughly forty minutes.

' _They make mastering the tree-walking exercise look easy… I took several days for me to master this._ ', thought Kakashi while crying anime tears.

Composing himself Kakashi spoke to the twins, "Impressive you two I didn't expect you two to master this exercise today. Normally it takes at least a week. I myself took about three days to master this exercise so I'm really surprised by this. And as a reward how about I take you two out to Ichiraku's ramen?", said Kakashi while eye-smiling barely seeing the two large foxy grins that appeared on the twins faces. After a few seconds, both shouted 'YEAH RAMEN!' so loud that they could be heard in the Hokage's office and over half of Konoha.

When a certain ramen chef and his five-year-old daughter heard this he couldn't help but chuckle and told his daughter that they need to prepare a large amount of ramen. And when he said that he couldn't stretch the word 'large' enough. The Uzumaki hunger after ramen is infamous in the village to the point where half the village wondered if all Uzumaki were like this and if yes… how much freakin' ramen did they eat in that village of theirs?

Shortly after the trio consisting of were on their way to Ichiraku when Naruto suddenly asked, "Kakashi-nii? Do you know how long until kaa-chan and tou-chan have finished?"

Looking down to the little blonde Kakashi scratched his chin and began to think, "Hmmm, I would guess they are about half done if everything went right, which I'm sure it did.", answered Kakashi with a new eye-smile. Yet when he looked in front of him he saw a green something standing in their way to Ichiraku's. Since he couldn't recognize what it was Kakashi stopped eye-smiling to see what it was. Yet that was a mistake since he now saw a fourteen-year-old Gai sprinting towards him.

When Kakashi saw the looks of horror on Kimiko and Naruto's faces he couldn't blame them since what they saw could be considered mental torture. When Gai arrived he began, "Yosh Kakashi! How youthful of you to take care of these youthful children! How about a quick challenge so they don't have to wait so long, ne Kakashi?"

Only then turned Kakashi towards Gai and said, "Huh, did you say something Gai?"

Gai immediately face-faulted and shouted, "Damn your cool and hip attitude Kakashi!"

While Gai was chanting about how he would help Kakashi defeat this attitude and ignite his 'flames of youth' once again he didn't notice that said shinobi and the children he had with him already disappeared. When Gai finally noticed he looked around and began to search for Kakashi shouting, "KAKASHI DON'T HIDE FROM THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

After another ten minutes, the trio finally arrived at Ichiraku's both Kimiko and Naruto couldn't contain their excitement anymore and ran inside shouting 'Hey, Old man! twelve bowls of miso ramen!' and 'Old man! Twelve bowls of chicken ramen!'. When Kakashi entered he politely ordered a single bowl of miso ramen with eggplant.

After their joint dinner and a nice conversation with the owner of the establishment and his little daughter, which both Naruto and Kimiko found to be quite nice, they left and bid the owner farewell and thanked him for the excellent dinner. When they exited Kakashi was, unluckily, once again being asked to a challenge by Gai, who somehow finally found him after like two hours.

Naruto and Kimiko giggled at this until Kimiko's eyes widened since she sensed something big. When Naruto and Kakashi heard Kimiko stopping to giggle they turned towards her and saw her shivering and really tense. But before they could ask they sensed it as well. Only seconds later a large poof of smoke appeared in the middle of the village. Out of the smoke, nine gargantuan furry tails emerged as well as two big red eyes with a black slit in it.

Only seconds after seeing this a loud roar was heard all over the village… the Kyūbi no Yōko has appeared in the village.

Sudden fear overcame the four persons when an ANBU arrived and stated, "By order of the Sandaime Hokage, all shinobi under the age of sixteen are forbidden to help fend off the Kyūbi to preserve the future of the village. I must ask you to head to the safety barrier just west of the village."

After that the ANBU disappeared to inform more young shinobi of this order, Kakashi turned to Gai and told him 'Let's go!'

Quickly grabbing both Naruto and Kimiko, Kakashi and Gai navigated through the village towards the safety barrier.

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw two children running for their lives as well. He turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi-nii there are two children there! We need to help them as well."

Nodding Kakashi created a single shadow clone to fetch the children to bring them to safety as well. Once the shadow clone returned with both the children Kakashi saw that it was, in fact, three children yet one was an infant in the boys' arm.

Quickly telling the two more children to follow them to safety they nodded and followed after them.

After about ten minutes of constant running in a single direction, they finally arrived. There were three jōnin guarding the barrier while one of the jōnin argued with a genin. They were Shinku Yūhi and Kurenai Yūhi.

When Shinku noticed Kakashi and Gai arriving and wondered why he brought children here. Kakashi only answered that he was with the Hokage's children and while running here they picked up these two. Nodding in understanding Shinku turned towards the village where the Kyūbi was still devastating the village.

While Naruto and Kimiko searched for their father, Naruto couldn't help but notice that his sight sharpened substantially. But he quickly put that thought in the back of his mind and returned to search for their father. After about a minute of searching Kimiko suddenly looked and pointed towards the Hokage monument. After a few seconds more the Yondaime Hokage suddenly appeared on top of his stone face.

Everyone except Kakashi and Naruto immediately thought, ' _A sensor!_ '

Just then Naruto looked towards the Kyūbi and saw it prepare an attack from the looks of it and tugged on Kakashi's sleeve. Kakashi couldn't help but look down to his surrogate little brother and ask, "What's wrong Naruto?"

"The Kyūbi seems to be charging it's chakra in its mouth region… is Tou-chan going to be okay?", asked Naruto while at the same time looking up to meet Kakashi's gaze. Kakashi couldn't help but mutter silently "Sharingan…" in surprise but all the shinobi could hear it even the two children who they saved, especially those two were shocked by this and looked to meet Naruto's gaze in which you could now see two one tomoe Sharingan blazing in deep crimson.

Kakashi's expression then softened and went to comfort both Naruto and Kimiko who were scared and worried about their parents and their little sibling. He hugged both of them firmly and told them in a soothing voice that their mother is more durable than half of Konoha combined and that their father wasn't Hokage for nothing. After a few minutes, they calmed down and saw their father teleport away with the Kyūbi.

Just then Naruto voiced a thought of his, "By the way Kakashi-nii…", Kakashi looked down once again, "What did you mean with Sharingan a few minutes ago?"

Kakashi eye-smiled at this, ' _He sure is one intelligent boy… he must've channeled chakra to his ears to heighten his own senses._ '

"Hmm… how about I tell you later after you met your little sibling and see that your parents are safe?", asked Kakashi since he did want to speak to his sensei about this before talking to Naruto about this topic.

Naruto nodded in understanding and looked over to his sister who was concentrating on the location of the Kyūbi and their parents.

Seven long minutes later Kimiko suddenly shot up, "This malevolent chakra… it's gone."

At this, the jōnin were relieved and relaxed while the chūnin and genin celebrated over the defeat of the strongest of the nine bijū.

"But… kaa-chan is exhausted and tou-chan's chakra is weak as well.", said Kimiko in worry. Naruto couldn't help but be worried as well were they turned towards Kakashi, who in turn turned to Shinku since it was his call to let them go. Nodding in agreement Shinku let the young shinobis go where Kimiko then told Kakashi that the chakra of their parents and another smaller chakra signature have reappeared in the hospital. Kakashi mused that Minato must've used his last strength to transport them to the hospital.

* * *

 **Konoha hospital, room 312**

"KAA-CHAN, TOU-CHAN!", yelled both children when they saw that their parents where both okay just slightly wounded and rather exhausted.

"Psst, this is a hospital you need to be quiet otherwise you will wake up other patients who require rest or you'll wake up your little sister Aiko.", said Kushina scolding in the beginning but then lovingly smiling when she saw the ecstatic expressions on her children's faces.

Both sprinted towards their mother to have a look at their little sister. As if sensing her siblings arrive little Aiko opened her eyes. They had the same color as their mothers but she had her fathers hair color and the straight hair of their mother. Her face was like a copy of their mother if it wasn't for the fact that their mother had not such tanned skin or the whisker marks all three of them had.

When Aiko saw her siblings she tried to reach them with her little arms. Specifically, she tried to reach her brother. Kushina moved to hand Aiko to her brother since she seemed to want to be with him and her big sister. Once Naruto held her, he smiled the biggest gigawatt smile he has ever smiled in his life that only his family would witness as he only smiled like this with his family.

Kimiko couldn't help but smile a gigawatt smile as well at the sight of her little sister and both vowed in thoughts to always protect their little sister.

Suddenly they heard a groan from the back of the room and saw their father crying anime tears, "Of course I was forgotten." but before he could sulk further his children already hugged him so he may never leave them like this again.

Kushian couldn't help but smirk and whisper, "Attention whore…" at which Minato could only smile. After a few minutes of pure hugging the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen entered the room with a smile, when he saw the position his successor was in.

"How is the resting going Minato-kun?", asked an amused Hiruzen.

"Good and it only got better when Naruto and Kimiko came back. Which reminds me, by the way, Kakashi where have you taken them to safety?", asked a Kushina with an all too sweet smile.

Kakashi gulped, "I took them inside the barrier for the young shinobi with me since I didn't want to let them alone." Seeing the look of relief on Kushina's face, Kakashi released a breath he didn't know he was holding. Women sure are scary when angered.

Remembering something Kakashi rose his eyebrows, "Sandaime-sama if you would please dismiss the ANBU in the room so we can all talk in privacy."

Hiruzen rose an eyebrow in question and immediately dismissed the ANBU and placed privacy seals.

"What do you want to talk about Kakashi-kun?", asked an still irritated Hiruzen.

Kakashi began to tell them about the progress he made today with the twins. For now, he purposefully left out the news of Naruto for some reason possessing the Sharingan. That would come as the next surprise to tell them.

"Unbelievable two children at the tender age of five are able to walk up trees with the use of their chakra alone while even most genin require a lot of time to master this. And not only that but Naruto-kun learned it in about five minutes. Not to mention that Kimiko didn't take practically longer; only twenty minutes.", said Hiruzen while looking at an equally surprised Kushina and Minato.

"Sandaime-sama, Kushina-sama, Minato-sensei I don't know how to tell you this since it will be mind-blowing and certainly very confusing… How about I just show you?", said Kakashi with an eye-smile.

Walking over to Naruto he whispered something into his ear getting a nod and an 'Okay Kakashi-nii' as an answer. Naruto walked so everyone could see him from a good perspective and began to channel chakra to his eyes. To everyone's surprise, except Kakashi and Kimiko, the normally deep cerulean blue eyes turned a deep crimson with a singular tomoe adorning each individual eye.

"B-Bu-But how is t-that possible…? I know for a fact from the standard blood test in the hospital after your birth that you are our mine and Minato's child and neither of us has Uchiha ancestors, so how is it possible that Naruto possesses the Sharingan?", asked a baffled Kushina although she was extremely proud of her son for somehow doing the impossible.

"Hmmm, Kakashi how many people know about Naruto awakening the Sharingan?", asked Hiruzen.

"Everybody that was in the barrier with us and the jōnin that were guarding us at the time. Also, we saved two children from being killed by debris that was thrown around by the Kyūbi and I saw the paper fan of the Uchiha Clan on their backs so the Uchiha Clan will most likely already know about this.", answered Kakashi almost instantly.

"Is that a problem, I mean I just seem to have some special looking eyes that have some abilities… but I don't know which my knowledge of the Sharingan is rather limited. I only know that it's the Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha Clan. But that jōnin that protected us also had red eyes so I don't know what's so bad about it?", questioned Naruto. Even if someone is considered a prodigy the knowledge of a five-year-old can only bring you so far in politics and such.

Kimiko nodded in agreement since she didn't understand as well. Kakashi went on to explain to them why it could be bad since if the Uchiha Clan wanted to they could demand Naruto's eyes to be turned over to them.

Yet Kushina knew better, ' _Fugaku wouldn't even try to do that… because if he tried Mikoto would beat him up again and force him to sleep on the couch or in the Police Department._ ', Kushina giggled slightly when she reminisced about Mikoto telling her that she force Fugaku to sleep in the Konoha Military Police Department because he complained about Sasuke screaming in the night even if he is an infant.

The rest of the night went off with them discussing what they would be doing if the Uchiha Clan demanded Naruto's eyes but Kushina quickly reminded them that Naruto is her and the 'Hokage's' son so she doubted they would demand that of them. Hiruzen then excused himself stating he would now be going to mourn for his wife's death. Kakashi also excused himself stating that there are Icha Icha books to be read.

Naruto and Kimiko refused to leave them saying that they wanted to protect their parents and little sister since they're still weak and went to a separate hospital bed with Aiko sleeping peacefully between them.

* * *

 **Next day, Konoha cemetery**

While the funeral of all the shinobi that fell during the Kyūbi attack went on, one Uchiha Itachi couldn't get the revelation of the last day out of his mind. He hadn't told anyone about it yet. Steeling his resolve to ask his father he looked up at him, "Tou-san?"

When Fugaku looked down at his prodigious firstborn he asked, "What is it Itachi?"

"Yesterday Kakashi-san took me and Izumi-chan with him and the Hokage's children to the safety. When we arrived we watched the battle against the Kyūbi until the Hokage's son asked a question… but what was so surprising about that was that he somehow had the Sharingan.", said Itachi sternly.

Fugaku, of course, wasn't expecting this and his eyes widened at the revelation. But he knew that the current Hokage's family had no Uchiha ancestors since every Hokage's lineage is perfectly documented and shown to every clan head at the beginning of his/her reign.

But that didn`t mean he couldn't get the boy to be a friend of the Uchiha Clan, "Then Itachi I would suggest you become friends with the twins so they at least tolerate the clan. We can't hope for more and frankly, we don't need more. Perhaps you will like him.", answered Fugaku truthfully since even he could see that his firstborn has not many friends.

Itachi nodded and he couldn't help but be infected with their happiness whenever he saw the Hokage's children on the street.

After the long ceremony to mourn the fallen, Itachi made his way over to the Hokage family with Sasuke in his arms. When he reached them he saw Naruto and Kimiko play with an infant that was in a fabric that was slung on his shoulder. He also heard bits and pieces of promises and vows like 'Don't worry Aiko-chan your Onii-chan and your Onee-chan will always protect you.'

Hearing this he looked down at his little brother and silently vowed the same.

He then arrived at the Hokage family, "Hello Hokage-sama, Kushina-sama."

"Why hello there Itachi-kun what is it you would like?", asked Kushina politely also wondering if she could chat a little with Mikoto.

"I would like to know if Naruto-kun and Kimiko-chan would like to join me in my solo-training.", asked Itachi respectfully since it was not every day a civilian could speak to the Hokage even if this civilian is a member of one of the founding clans of Konohagakure.

"Would you like to Naruto-kun, Kimiko-chan?", asked Minato his children.

It didn't take long, just a quick glance at each other and they already spoke, "Sure Itachi-kun it would be nice to train with someone our age.", said Kimiko remembering who they normally trained with if it wasn't their mother or their father on rare occasions. It would always be a pervert. Be it Kakashi, Jiraiya, or Hiruzen.

"Then how about 1 pm tomorrow at Training Ground 3?", asked Itachi.

"Yeah, sure! Oh man, I can't wait for more training.", said an almost dreaming Naruto and Kimiko.

Kushina and Minato only shook their heads in amusement it just seemed nothing took their attention more than training, "But both of you make sure to return for dinner!", said Kushina with worry present in her voice since it would make all mothers pretty uncomfortable to not have their children in sight to check if they're alright.

"Very well then, until tomorrow. Good day Naruto-kun, Kimiko-chan.", said Itachi while waving goodbye.

* * *

 **Three years later, June 1st, 7:55 am**

Four persons could be seen walking in the direction of the shinobi academy of Konohagakure no Sato. Two eight-year-old children with excitement visible in their eyes, one three-year-old girl with the same excitement in her eyes for her older siblings and one twenty-seven-year-old woman with vibrant red hair.

These people were Namikaze Kushina, formerly Uzumaki Kushina, Namikaze Aiko, Namikaze Kimiko, and Namikaze Naruto. It was the day of inauguration into the shinobi academy. Naruto and Kimiko both grew stronger in the last years only solidifying the claim of them being prodigies.

Life in the village is good right now. The village recovered fairly well from the Kyūbi's attack. Just after the attack when the civilians demanded the Hokage to kill the demon holder, which they did not know who it was. This resulted in Minato disbanding the current civilian council to replace with others that aren't as hateful towards jinchūriki. Still, the identity of the jinchūriki was kept secret from everyone that wasn't Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen.

Neither Aiko, Kimiko, nor Naruto know of Aiko's tenant. But that wasn't the only tragedy of the past years. Only a few months back the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen discovered his favorite student conducting experiments on infants, children, and adults. These experiments were highly inhumane and served only one purpose… to satisfy Orochimaru's lust for power and immortality. Unluckily though Orochimaru was able to escape from Konoha and is now labeled as an S-Rank missing-nin.

This utterly destroyed Hiruzen but he recovered fairly quickly after a month. Now back on track, in the last three years Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi met and trained fairly often, developing a friendship rather quickly. They also met with a slightly older Uchiha who already was a shinobi by the name of Uchiha Shisui. His personality was very much like Naruto's: can be goofy in one moment and completely serious in the next.

There also were several blood tests conducted on Naruto to find out how he has naturally awakened the Sharingan. The results were astounding… their family never had any ties with the Uchiha Clan meaning his genes must have mutated on its own leading to the Sharingan's awakening. This theory was also trashed when Naruto's genes didn't show the gene responsible for the awakening of the Sharingan.

' _At least they only had to take blood once not all over again multiple times_ ', thought Naruto while shuddering, he just didn't like needles and hospitals in general.

Dismissing his reminiscing Naruto noticed that they have arrived at the academy. He saw a lot of families gathering in the training ground of the academy. Glancing over all of them he quickly spotted Itachi's family. Tugging at his mother's sleeve, causing her to look down at him with a proud smile gracing her face, "What is it Naruto-kun?"

"Look there's Itachi's family!", Naruto said pointing in Itachi's direction, "Can we go there?"

Kushina only smiled and nodded. Walking over to her friend Mikoto they started to chat a little while their children also talked a bit.

"Hey Itachi, you also hyped for the academy?", started Naruto with his usual foxy grin.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it and hope it's not too boring.", answered Itachi in his usual emotionless tone. He doesn't even do it on purpose yet, it's just his normal way of talking they've learned.

"Wait… what do you mean with boring?", asked Kimiko dreading the answer.

"Well they mostly teach us about the history of the Elemental Nations and most practical exercises are first taught in the third year of the academy. The academy curriculum changed back to its pre-war standards so to grant us our childhood.", with that Naruto face faulted and Kimiko had a rather comical looking dark rainy cloud above her head showing her depression at this topic.

When Kushina saw this she couldn't help but chuckle a little since for some reason Kimiko always was easy to depress even if it lasted only about half a minute.

Soon enough Kimiko stopped being depressed and saw that Aiko and Sasuke were talking how cool their older siblings are. Kimiko would've squealed how cute they looked if their father didn't ask all students to gather in front of the podium and Naruto pulling her sleeve gesturing towards the podium.

"Welcome all new academy students that wish to become shinobi of our village. I must tell you that I'm very proud of all of you for it is your choice to become shinobi of this village and as shinobi of our village your duty will be to defend our village with all your might. So grow strong and listen to what your instructors tell you. Now if the teachers please would gather their students.", said Minato hoping his speech was alright. He never was good at giving speeches. Seeing the looks of determination on the children's faces and the thumbs up from his wife told him that he did great.

"Hello my name is Funeno Daikoku and I will be the sensei of Class 13. Please follow me to classroom 302.", stated an academy teacher. He wore the standard chūnin outfit of Konoha and wore his forehead protector like a bandana. He had a round face as well as a goatee and brown hair that reached to the base of his neck.

Itachi, Kimiko, and Naruto all looked at the slips of paper that they got per post and noticed that Itachi was in the same class as Naruto and Kimiko, who already knew that they were in the same class, Class 13… having a father who his Hokage certainly has perks. All three quickly follow their new teacher while waving and saying goodbye to their respective mothers and younger siblings.

When they arrived they took a seat in the middle of the room at the window side of the classroom and chatted with each other. When everyone arrived at their designated classroom and took a seat the teachers all pretty much simultaneously throughout the academy began their totally interesting and not boring lectures. At least their sensei was somewhat jovial and funny.

* * *

 **Six hours of total boredom later**

"If I hear one more thing about the history of Konoha I'm going to explode!", stated Kimiko rather annoyed.

"Calm down Nee-chan, it wasn't that bad even if we already know all of it.", said Naruto trying to calm his sister down with the same expression his father normally had when his mother was angry again used that weird jutsu were her hair split into nine tails and furiously swing behind her. That's the scariest jutsu Naruto ever witnessed in his life… at least he thought it was a jutsu.

Just entering their home through the front door Naruto and Kimiko were tackled over by a yellow blur. When they looked down they saw the cheerful eyes of their little sister Aiko. Aiko stood at 2'5" barely reaching over the hips of her siblings. She had the sun-kissed blonde hair of their father, the purple eyes and face shape of their mother as well as the everpresent whisker marks all of them had. Yet hers were even bolder than Naruto's and Kimiko's, not that it mattered to them.

To Naruto and Kimiko she was the most precious thing on the planet and nothing would stop them from defending her with their lives.

"NII-CHAN, NEE-CHAN HOW WAS YOUR FIRST DAY? DID YOU LEARN COOL JUTSU?", asked Aiko quickly with barely contained excitement.

Naruto laughed and Kimiko giggled at their sisters' antics and began to tell her what they learned today. At the end of the explanation there were not two but three disappointed children yet all of them were still happy since they had each other.

They spent the rest of the day training with their sister watching them in awe since what she saw was utterly impossible in her mind. When the time to sleep came Naruto was just reading a good night story with his twin to their little sister who was just as happy as always to be in the warmth of her siblings.


	2. Academy and Beginnings of the Genin

**Chapter 2**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

 **Jutsu translations at the bottom of the chapter!**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I would Madara wouldn't have been killed by some bullshit. I mean apparently, it's easier to defeat a literal god than defeating Rikudō Madara.**

* * *

 **One year later, streets of Konohagakure no Sato, 31st of May**

Over the last year, Naruto's let his hair grow out quite far now having long spiky blonde hair reaching his lower back and two bangs framing his face to his chin while a shorter but thicker bang went down his forehead over his nose just below eye height.

Additionally, after an unusually intense spar with Itachi, Naruto managed to evolve his Sharingan to the next stage his crimson eyes now adorning two tomoes in both eyes instead of the former single one. In the same spar a little later after Naruto's evolving of his Sharingan, the new coming stress from Naruto now pretty much predicting and counter-attacking all of Itachi's moves caused Itachi himself to finally awaken it.

Although it was strange to him that he didn't have to go through the stress most Uchiha have to experience to awaken it, yet he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Currently, we find two persons running from a rather big crowd of crazed female students. These two were Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Itachi. The big crowd was their 'small' fan club Normally they wouldn't get the chance to chase those two around. The reason for that was little old Kimiko. It seems as though she inherited more from their mother than just the hair and face shape.

Her temper and anger could challenge even the likes of her mother or even Tsunade's. Normally whenever a fan girl tried to come close to either of them Kimiko would threaten to beat them to a bloody pulp. Yet today Kimiko was ill and stayed at home. After all, even those who inherited the longevity and vitality of the Uzumaki can get ill, even if it only lasts a day and not more.

But back to Itachi and Naruto literally running for their lives. They tried to outrun them but apparently, when chasing both of them they have more stamina than most Uzumaki.

Naruto looked around to find an escape and saw old man Hiruzen subtly gesturing to come to him. Quickly grabbing Itachi's wrist, he pulled himself and Itachi into an alleyway. The fan girls were already screaming, "THAT'S A DEAD END WE ALMOST GOT THEM QUICKLY NOW!", and turned into the same alleyway they saw their 'love interests' enter. Yet when they arrived the complete alleyway was empty. Screaming and literally crying 'Why don't they love us back?!'.

Seeing them slowly and sadly retreating Naruto and Itachi breathed out in relief on the rooftop above the alleyway. Beside them stood an amused Hiruzen calmly puffing out smoke out of his trusty pipe.

"Oh man… I can't wait to graduate tomorrow… The one day Kimiko isn't in school and they gang up on us and try to kill us or something. Ain't that right Itachi?", asked Naruto while turning to his best friend. Itachi could only nod and fear was spread all over his normally emotionless and calm face.

"Yeah although I hope Tou-chan doesn't get the genius idea of separating us three and pair us with older graduates then ourselves.", said Naruto while dreading the reactions of older graduates complaining why they're are teamed up with a 'brat' that was younger than them. Thinking that he made a mental note to remind his father 'nicely' and totally not threaten him to place the three of them on the same team.

' _I think he will place us on the same team if I threaten him to reveal his collection of those Icha Icha books to Kaa-chan. I don't know what is inside those books but I will find out someday and why it makes women so damn angry!_ ', thought Naruto determined.

"I don't think he will do that but better be safe than sorry, am I right Itachi-kun?", asked Hiruzen in his grandfatherly tone. He made it his personal goal to know the name of every villager and shinobi that lived in Konoha. Thus he could engage in conversation with all of them.

"I'm sure Hokage-sama will place us together. But one can never be too careful in the shinobi world.", answered Itachi regaining his normal emotionless tone and facade. Currently, in the whole village, there were only four persons that could determine what emotion Itachi was feeling at a moment because of their experience of dealing with him. These four persons were his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, his little brother, Uchiha Sasuke, and his two best friends Namikaze Kimiko and Namikaze Naruto. Not even his own father could decipher Itachi's facade… and he was hella proud of his son because of this.

After a few more minutes of calming down from their near-death experience, they thanked the former Hokage and retreated back to their home to prepare for their exam tomorrow.

* * *

 **Next day, 1st of June**

"Welcome class to the last day of the academy for this year. Before we proceed are there any persons that feel like they can take the exam already?", said Funeno Daikoku out of protocol not expecting anyone to actually raise their hands. Unluckily for him, three individuals raised their hands.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise to see the top three students in the class to raise their hands.

"Oh I didn't expect anyone to actually raise their hands but if you want to take the exam, please follow me. Class, I'll be back in a few minutes.", said Funeno Daikoku gesturing for the three of them to follow him.

After following their sensei through a few hallways they arrived at classroom 365, the place where exam part #1 would be held. Ushering them in and exchanging a few words with the teacher inside they were assigned a seat in the classroom for the written exam.

After explaining the rules the teacher began to give out the exam sheets to the genin-hopefuls.

When Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi looked at the exam sheet, both Namikaze's couldn't help but get a huge sweatdrop while Itachi gained a microscopic sweatdrop at the easiness of the written portion of the exam.

Quickly acing through the written exam in about ten minutes all of them returned their test sheets to the teacher who told them to wait outside at the throwing range to wait for the rest there.

After they left h began to look at the exam thinking they most likely have everything wrong at the speed they aced through the test, he couldn't help but gape at the three perfectly answered test sheets.

After half an hour of boring sitting around waiting for the other genin-hopefuls, the teacher finally arrived with the other students. After explaining that to pass this exam they have to hit at least with five kunai and five shurikens out of ten.

Naruto, Itachi, and Kimiko all were rather bored watching mostly civilians throwing kunai and shuriken. The only ones that were remotely interesting to watch was a Hyūga main branch member with seven hit kunai and six hit shuriken, as well as a Sarutobi clan member with eight hit kunai and eight hit shuriken.

When the turn for Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi came they surprised everyone by showing perfect accuracy hitting all ten shurikens and kunai in the bull's eye.

Again awestruck that academy students of their age could even perform such performances that even some chūnin have problems with.

Quickly overcoming his shock the teacher asked them to return to the classroom and wait until their name is called and then to head to the room next doors.

Waiting for fifteen minutes they saw students leave and re-enter the classroom with either a happy expression and a forehead protector or a sad expression and no forehead protector. Finally, Itachi was called and he went to leave but before getting two good lucks from Naruto and Kimiko respectively.

A few minutes later Itachi re-entered the classroom with a forehead protector adorning his forehead. Getting two 'Well done' from both Namikaze once again they returned to waiting.

Another ten minutes later Kimiko was called up and just like Itachi before her, she got two 'Good luck' and she returned a few minutes later with her own forehead protector.

Directly after her Naruto was called up and just like his sister got two 'Good luck' and left the room to enter the room next door.

Inside was the teacher who oversaw the other two parts of the exam, another chūnin, and the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Naruto-kun to pass this exam would you please perform the academy three? I'm sure you already know who they are right?", asked Hiruzen with his usual grandfatherly tone.

"Hai Sandaime-jiji!", exclaimed Naruto enthusiastically while pumping his fist in the air. Uzumaki heritage after all.

Before the chūnin could shout at him for disrespecting the former Hokage Naruto already crossed his index and middle finger of each hand and said, " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** "

Immediately four solid clones of Naruto appeared right next to him. The teachers were once again shocked that someone so young could perform an A-Rank kinjutsu only jōnin are supposed to know… and in this graduation class, there are now three who could perform this jutsu.

"Now onto ' **Henge no Jutsu** '.", said all clones simultaneously while forming the _Dog → Boar → Ram_ hand seals.

All five Narutos erupted in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared there were five very recognizable individuals of history. Before them stood perfect replications of the four Hokage: Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Namikaze Minato. Yet the last one was who sent a shiver down Hiruzen's spine since he remembered the man from his youth.

The real Naruto transformed himself into none other than Uchiha Madara, former clan head of the Uchiha Clan and the only person known in history able to match Senju Hashirama in power.

Hiruzen could've sworn he even felt the distinct aura of power that Madara always had around him.

Quickly dispelling the ' **Henge no Jutsu** ' and ' **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** ' as to not give the Sandaime a heart attack Naruto quickly replaced himself with a log placed in the room for the ' **Kawarimi no Jutsu** '

"Well done Naruto-kun you've passed!", exclaimed after getting over his initial shock of seeing a pretty real looking Madara and seeing Naruto's successful replacement. He gestured for Naruto to get closer and take his forehead protector. Naruto took it and wrapped it around his forehead with his middle bang covering half of the leaf insignia.

He was then ushered out and asked to please call the next student in. He nodded and returned to the classroom calling out the name of the next student to go. He returned to his seat in between Itachi and Kimiko and they started to chat about the team placements that would be tomorrow.

After half an hour of chatting the teacher returned with the last student and began a totally interesting lecture about how proud he is to have taught the next generation.

' _I mean seriously the academy teachers should work in the T &I department with their skill of boring someone to death it would be far easier than the way Ibiki-san handles them there… and far less of a hassle for the personnel to clean afterwards._', thought Naruto while not even listening to the teacher. The only thing he heard in the lecture that was of use was that tomorrow at 8 am the teams would be formed and they would meet their jōnin sensei.

* * *

 **Outside the academy**

"Well, our families are here. See ya tomorrow Itachi-kun, 'ttebayo.", said an excited Kimiko before she realized what she just said and quickly put her hands on her mouth and blushed in embarrassment.

With a deadpan look on his face, Naruto stated, "You did it again, Nee-chan."

"You know I try to suppress it but sometimes it just comes out when I'm excited.", said the pouting Kimiko while still slightly blushing from embarrassment.

"Yeah, so see ya tomorrow Itachi.", said Naruto grabbing Kimiko's wrist and pulling her towards their family.

"Onii-chan, Onee-chan!", yelled Aiko at the top of her voice to get their attention.

Both bent down to meet their little sisters' eye level and hugged her firmly. They then allowed her to play with their hair and their new forehead protectors.

After a 'I'm proud of both of you' from their father and a literally bone-crushing hug from their mother with a strength that would put Tsunade's super strength to shame, the family of five went to the one place where they would always celebrate; Ichiraku's ramen.

* * *

 **Next day, academy room 365**

After the standard 'I'm proud to have been your teacher' speech from the teacher they literally first met yesterday, the team placements began. Yet before Naruto could indulge himself in his interesting thoughts about the ramen he ate yesterday he heard his name being mentioned.

"Team 2: Namikaze Naruto, Namikaze Kimiko, and Uchiha Itachi. Your jōnin sensei will be … Uchiha Mikoto.", stated the teacher and went on to name the next team.

The three of them blinked in wonder and turned towards themselves, "Mikoto-obaasan / Kaa-chan is our sensei?"

"Ohh… that must be what she meant she has a surprise for me today.", said Itachi who searched his memory for any hints to how his mother was their sensei. As far as he remembers she retired as a jōnin some time ago before his birth.

They thought about it so long that the teacher finished naming the teams before they could even feel happy that their mother / 'aunt' would be their sensei, they heard the door open with some jōnin filling the room.

One of them stood out namely due to the being the only female jōnin present, "Team 2 with me to Training ground 3!", she said in her soft female voice and students began to file out the room with their new jōnin senseis. With Mikoto being Itachi, Naruto, and Kimiko.

After walking ten minutes in comfortable silence they arrived at training ground 3.

"Before we begin we should introduce us all… even though we all know each other.", Mikoto said muttering the last part, "I shall begin. As you know my name Uchiha Mikoto; my likes are my family, cooking, and gardening. My dislikes include traitors, perverts, and arrogance. My hobbies are also cooking for my family, caring for my garden, and shopping with Kushina-chan. My dream for the future is to see my children become proud Konoha shinobi. Now please Itachi-kun."

"My name Uchiha Itachi; my likes include my family, especially my little brother, training, and my favorite word is peace. My dislikes are perverts, traitors and steak. My hobbies are playing with my brother, helping my mother in the kitchen, and the beforementioned training. My dream for the future is to see my brother surpass me in skill.", stated Itachi showing emotion whenever he mentioned his brother, other than that pretty much Itachi-ish.

"Now you Kimiko-chan.", said Mikoto pointing towards Kimiko.

"My name is Namikaze Kimiko. My likes are my family, especially both my siblings, training, and ramen. My dislikes include perverts, traitors, and sushi. My hobbies are training with my brother, playing with my little sister, and trying to replicate the Ichiraku ramen recipe. My dreams for the future is for me or my brother to become Hokage and to make sure Aiko-chan is always safe.", exclaimed Kimiko standing up pumping her fist in the air causing everyone to sweatdrop especially when she talked about trying to replicate a ramen recipe as a hobby.

' _It's frightening how much she reminds me of Kushina-chan from our academy/genin days._ ', thought Mikoto, "Alright now last but not least Naruto-kun."

"My name is Namikaze Naruto; my likes include training with my sister, my family as well as my siblings, and ramen… though not as much as my sister since I never was able to defeat her in an eating contest.", said Naruto quieting down when saying the last part, "My dislikes are traitors and perverts. My hobbies are training with my sister, playing with my little sister, history as wells as theories of the Sage of Six Paths, and Jutsu Theory and Creation. My dreams for the future are to have a family of my own and to perhaps become Hokage if my sister doesn't snatch that position from me.", saying the last bit with a small playful smirk directed at his sister who equally playful returned it."

"Very interesting bunch all three of you. There were even some things I didn't know about you like you Naruto indulging yourselves in theories about the Sage.", stated Mikoto matter-of-factly.

"Now then, I will have to tell you that you aren't officially genin yet… every academy graduate has to complete a second test to officially be recognized as a genin. If you fail this test you will be returned to the academy for at least another year. But I have faith in all three of you that you will have no problem with this test.", told Mikoto the two shocked genin and one Itachi showing the most emotion most would see from Itachi… a slightly risen eyebrow.

"Normally every jōnin sensei would use a different test but Hokage-sama told me to go with the test he put his own team through… the bell test!", said Mikoto holding up two bells, "The objective of this test is to get these from me before the time limit is over. You shall use everything at your disposal and come at me with the intent to kill!"

You have two hours! Understood?", barked Mikoto causing all three genin to stand up and mock salute, "Hai, Mikoto-sensei!"

"Very well, begin!", as those words left Naruto, Itachi, and Kimiko quickly jumped into the tree line surrounding the training ground.

* * *

 **With the three genin**

"Man, I sure am happy that Kakashi told us about this test without Tou-chan knowledge.", chuckled Naruto and Kimiko while Itachi had a minor smile on his face.

"Well then let's show them our teamwork. Let's go Team awesomeness!", said Kimiko pumping her fist in the air once again causing her male teammates to sweatdrop. It doesn't matter how long you are with Kimiko; it is quite hard to get used to her antics, even though Naruto has almost mastered the knowledge of how she works.

"Ok so here's the plan...", began Naruto and they planned how to conquer the bells within the time limit.

* * *

 **A few minutes after the beginning of the bell test**

"Hmm I think I should look around a bit sitting here is boring.", mused Mikoto as she stood up from the ground and began to walk in some direction.

After another five minutes, Mikoto finally picked up movement in the bushes next to her. She quickly pulled out a kunai only to have a rabbit jump out of the bush. She sweatdropped and was quite embarrassed that a rabbit managed to make her jump like that.

She was about to continue moving on when the rabbit suddenly became enveloped by a poof of smoke and out came Kimiko to engage her in taijutsu. For a fresh genin at the tender age of nine, Mikoto had to compliment her on her taijutsu it was quite good for that level but she isn't a jōnin for nothing.

Kimiko prepared a punch at her face, at which Mikoto ducked. Using the momentum of her own strike she swiped at her sensei's legs to make her stumble. Seeing this Mikoto jumped up to see another fist coming at her. She quickly held up her right hand to block the punch and positioned her left hand to block the following knee. after a few more attempts to hit her Kimiko jumped back a few meters determined to distract her sensei while her brother and best friend prepared the rest of the plan.

Effortlessly blocking every strike Kimiko made she noticed the smirk she had on her face. Sensing a rather large chakra build-up, for genin at least, she turned her head lightly to see Itachi standing there with his one-tomoe Sharingan activated and his hand forming the Tiger hand seal. He moved his fingers to his mouth and formed a kind of circle with his index and middle finger at the top and the thumb at the bottom.

He then blew out an impressively large fireball while calmly saying, " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** ".

The fireball rocketed towards her and she actually became worried about Kimiko and returned to look at her. Her eyes widened when she saw her smiling and then poofing out of existence. Mikoto was about to dodge to the sides if not for the fact that kunai with exploding tags impacted on the ground to her left, right, and behind her as well as above her to cut off every possible escape path.

In all the commotion she didn't even notice a kunai flying the shadow of the exploding tag kunai above her, aiming at her waist to cut off the bells from her bells.

She quickly substituted herself with a log and saw her genin team stand in between her and the scorched earth of the fireball.

All three of them slowly walked towards her onto the scorched earth and bent down. ' _What are they doing?_ ', thought Mikoto until she noticed a silver shimmering in the grass. She put her hands where the bells supposed to be… and felt none.

When realization hit her she saw Naruto and Kimiko holding onto the same bell and Itachi holding up the other bell.

"Well, well, well… I certainly didn't expect you all to actually manage to get the bells. Tell me did someone tell you the goal of the test?", asked Mikoto amused with a risen eyebrow.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Actually… Kakashi told us about the test he had to do when he just became a genin under Tou-chan."

"That surely explains some things… Very well you all pass. Now we all will go to Kushina-chan since I left Sasuke with her rather than Fugaku-kun. He'd manage to kill a rock if he had to care for it.", mused Mikoto and they began their trek back home talking about celebrating becoming full genin and how awesome they were now.

* * *

The rest of the day Naruto, Kimiko, and Aiko spent time since their mother was out and their father was still at work, Kimiko and Aiko furiously tried to cook ramen to try to make it taste like Ichiraku ramen while Naruto wrote Jutsu ideas in a book. He found it quite amusing watching his siblings successfully fail to replicate the ramen recipe until they decided to just go to Ichiraku's ramen even though it was already pretty dark outside.

Noticing the beautiful night sky with no actual clouds they decided to take the slightly longer way to Ichiraku ramen. When they walked through a small forest part of the park Naruto couldn't help but feel… cautious. Something told him to be ready. He could also see that Kimiko sensed it as well, most likely even earlier than him.

Then out of nowhere four shinobi dressed in red full body suits reaching down to their ankles with fishnet covering the rest of the legs. The suit missed its right sleeve and they wore brown flak vests. All four of them wore a forehead protector with the insignia of Iwagakure no Sato.

"What do you want Iwagakure shinobi?", asked a cautious Naruto, his hand hovering over his kunai pouch.

"Your father embarrassed our village quite a bit in the last war.", stated the leader of the group with a malicious smirk on his face and pulling out a kunai, readying himself.

"Nii-san they have at least chūnin-level chakra reserves.", whispered Kimiko worried about their little sister who couldn't defend herself yet.

Naruto nodded and both took out a kunai, ready to defend themselves and their little sister, "Aiko-chan go back slightly, run home and get help. We'll hold them off as long as we can. Now go!"

Aiko who was frozen in fright snapped out of it when she heard that and nodded slightly and ran to get help. The Iwagakure shinobi tried to stop her but a few thrown kunai from Naruto stopped them.

"Well if we can't get all three of them, let's just be happy with two, right?", asked one of the shinobi in glee.

Naruto and Kimiko's bodies tensed, ready to battle for their lives. Suddenly one of the Iwagakure shinobi rocketed forward trying to catch Naruto off-guard. Naruto activated his Sharingan and began to easily dodge or block the attacks.

Shocked at the revelation that the Yondaime's son has the Sharingan they tried to divide his attention by attacking his sister as well.

The one who attacked Naruto resumed his attack slicing at Naruto's head, shoulders, chest, and basically, everything that could cause him to feel pain. Naruto was hard pressed to actually dodge and block all of the attacks, after all, he looked like a seasoned chūnin while he himself was just a fresh genin, even if he's a prodigy.

He continued to block attacks left and right and some thrown kunai as well. He glanced over to his sister to see she was holding her own for the moment. But how long would that last?

Seeing his opponent distracted the Iwagakure shinobi tried to slice at his throat. Luckily for Naruto, he saw the glint of a kunai in the corner of his eye, enabling him to dodge yet not without injury. He now had a long but not very deep cut diagonally over his left arm. Holding his arm in pain he continued to dodge and only occasionally block the attacks.

This continued for a few minutes until apparently all the Iwagakure shinobi had enough of this fight since it started to attract unwanted attention.

Both sides regrouped standing opposite to each other. Suddenly all the Iwagakure shinobi formed the Bird hand seal and yelled, " **Doton: Doryūsō** "

To the front, back, and back of the two young twins spears of stone erupted, aiming to skewer them. Kimiko sensed the chakra build-up quickly and jumped away but Naruto didn't see where the chakra was focussed at.

She wanted to scream out for him to move but couldn't find her voice at the incoming sorrow. Naruto looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw the earth spear about to skewer him. The earth spears moving to fast for his two-tomoe Sharingan to comprehend how to dodge. The tomoes in his activated Sharingan begun to spin until slowly coming to a stop. Now three tomoe adorned each individual Sharingan.

With his now improved senses and his already pretty good reflexes, Naruto was able to skillfully dodge the damage. Sighing in relief that her brother is safe Kimiko returned to his side.

The Iwagakure shinobi were seething that Naruto fully matured his Sharingan now and made the ultimate mistake when fighting a Sharingan user… looking them directly in the eyes. Once eye contact was established Naruto immediately cast a subtle genjutsu making them perceive their surroundings slightly different.

The Iwagakure shinobi, intending to finally end this useless battle against children, threw shuriken at vital points of the two genin. All of them were quite shocked when they actually hit expecting them to dodge them easily. In all their celebrating that they actually killed the children of the Yondaime none but the leader noticed the corpse of the genin seemingly floating in slow-motion towards the ground until they dispersed into nothingness.

Leaves started surrounding all of them until they stopped mid-air and aimed towards them. In confusion of what was happening only the leader was able to dispel the genjutsu, seeing the leaves form into shuriken perfectly aimed at vital points including the jugular, the subclavian artery, and lungs.

Before the leader could warn them to dodge they fell to the ground lifelessly. He looked ahead again. It already got so dark that it was hard to see several feet in front of you. Suddenly two crimson orbs opened in the darkness revealing themselves as Sharingan. If the darkness wasn't so deep he could've seen the tears swelling from Naruto's and Kimiko's eyes as they both threw the shuriken causing the death of three persons; even if these persons were hellbent on killing them.

The leader wanted to quickly retreat but just when he turned around to flee he was surrounded by four Konoha ANBU. Out of one of the masks, he could see the same crimson orb he saw in the child's eye sockets. Stricken with fear due to being completely outclassed he didn't notice the ANBU behind him sneak up on him and quickly knock him out.

Once he was tied up an ANBU with Tiger mask body flickered away with the body towards the T&I department for his session with the nicest and totally not most sadistic person in the world, Morino Ibiki.

The ANBU with the dog mask looked towards the twins, who were standing over the bodies of the shinobi they killed, and couldn't help but feel sorrowful for them. To kill someone so early in your life is truly terrifying. Turning since he sensed to big chakra signatures approaching he saw Minato, Kushina, and Aiko speeding towards their children/siblings.

When they arrived they too couldn't help but be sad. There stood their eldest, if only by minutes, and second eldest children over the corpses of three shinobi no doubt killed by themselves. They could also see the drops of clear liquid drop from their faces on the ground. Finally breaking out Kushina approached them quickly and pulled them into a hug pouring all her love in the hug.

The twins sobs and tears only intensified in their mother's embrace until they broke out in cries and saying 'They didn`t leave us a choice. They wanted to kill us.' all over again. Kushina only continued to hug them both trying to calm them down and speaking to them in a calm voice.

Eventually after a few minutes of crying both fell asleep due to exhaustion from their battle as well as the crying. Minato ordered the ANBU to clean up the scene, receiving a 'Hai, Hokage-sama!'. He then grabbed his wife and youngest child and flashed them home.

They laid them down in their bed and wanted to leave. Well everyone except Aiko. She wanted to make sure her siblings were alright so she insisted on staying in their bed at least for tonight. Minato and Kushina allowed her to stay here but not to wake them up since they required rest right now.

Aiko quickly got into her pajama and snuggled in between her siblings, who unconsciously wrapped their arms around her protectively.

The parents smiled at this display of brotherly/sisterly love towards each other, not one second forgetting about the traumatic experience two of them went through only minutes prior to this.

* * *

 **Two weeks after the attempted assassination, market district of Konohagakure**

"Here's Fishcake. I'm in position. Target in sight."

"Understood. Here's Ramen Freak. Target also in sight. Shall I engage?"

"Here is No-Emotion. Wait for Sensei's command."

"Alright. Restrain the target in… 3… 2… 1… NOW!", shouted Mikoto and all three genin sped forward to capture the most dangerous living being inhibiting Konoha… Tora.

Naruto got his hands first on Tora and the cat valiantly resisted but after Itachi and also Kimiko were able to grab all four paws of Tora, they turned Tora around to face Naruto who activated his Sharingan and placed the cat under a sleep-inducing genjutsu.

"Well done Team. You have set a new record for the fastest time to capture Tora. You should be proud of yourselves. After all, not everyone is able to capture Tora in only an hour.", praised Mikoto joining her genin team.

The first week after the failed assassination Naruto and Kimiko were crying uncontrollably and wouldn't budge from Aiko's side, which she happily accepted. She loves her siblings the most after all.

Their mother also helped in processing their first kills by showering them in love should they break again and start to cry and sob.

They were on their way to fully recover from this traumatic experience with Itachi helping as well. Even if they don't notice it since Itachi could remain hidden even if he would stand in between two persons because of his quiet nature.

Now they were on their way back to the Hokage tower to return Tora to its torturer and jailor… the wife of the Fire Daimyo.

With this mission finished they finally have enough missions completed to allow them to go on a C-Rank mission and not more chores… or D-Ranks as the Hokage would refer to. ' _Seriously these missions are just civilians who are too lazy to do something themselves, I mean it certainly doesn't require shinobi to paint a freakin' fence!_ ', thought a pissed Naruto when he remembered all the worthless missions they went on.

Finally arriving at the Hokage's office to receive the next mission Naruto was about to request a C-Rank yet Kimiko beat him to it, "Come on Tou-sama, please I don't want to do another stupid chore! Give us something real."

"That depends on your sensei. if she thinks you're ready then I will give you a C-Rank mission.", answered a calm Minato although inside he was quite amused by his daughter since every genin acts like this once they did at least two weeks full of D-Rank missions. He himself was like this in his genin days. Hell, he could remember his sensei Jiraiya complain about them even if he didn't actually do them and only spied on some girls in the hot spring telling them to complete the mission.

' _Lazy pervert ass of a sensei._ ', thought Minato when he remembered his sensei's antics when he was a genin.

"Well, I do think they are ready to handle a simple C-Rank mission. shouldn't be too hard.", said Mikoto truthfully.

"Well, then I have just the perfect mission for you all…", began Minato.

* * *

" **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** " = " **Shadow Clone Technique** "

" **Henge no Jutsu** " = " **Transformation Technique** "

" **Kawarimi no Jutsu** " = " **Body Replacement Technique** "

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique** "

" **Doton: Doryūsō** " = " **Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears** "


	3. First Real Mission

**Chapter 3**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

 **Jutsu and general translations at the bottom of the chapter!**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I would Sasori would have been alive longer than just one arc. I really like him and his death was such a waste. Even in the War Arc he "died" too fucking easy. :(**

* * *

 **Hokage office**

"Well, then I have just the perfect mission for you all. Your mission is to escort a merchant named Nokoshi Daito to the capital of Cha no Kuni. He has requested protection from bandits on his way there and for the way back. During his stay in the capital, he doesn't require protection. Bring the client in!", spoke Minato to the genin in front of him, although the last part was directed at a chūnin next to him.

"Immediately Hokage-sama!", replied the chūnin without hesitation and left the room to gather the client.

After a minute or so the chūnin re-entered the room, this time with someone in tow.

He looked to be in his fifties. He had slightly spiked brown hair paired with green eyes. He wore a grey T-shirt under a black haori as well as loose grey pants. His haori and his pants were held together by a blue obi. He also wore standard sandals commonly used by civilians, "Hello young-ones, my name is Nokoshi Daito. I trust you will keep me safe from bandits since the civilian roads to Cha no Kuni are quite full of them." He said with a smile adorning his face.

"That we will Daito-san, and even if my genin are being overwhelmed I'm still with them and I should be more than enough to handle the bandits.", answered Mikoto with a smile before pointing to each of her genin, "My name is Mikoto. The one with black hair is my son Itachi, the blonde is Naruto, and the redhead is Kimiko."

All three genin bowed, "It's a pleasure to meet you Daito-san."

"Ahh, no need to be so formal you can call me Daito, Naruto-kun, Itachi-kun, Kimiko-chan.", said Daito while waving his hand dismissively.

Mikoto clapped her hands together, "Okay, how about we meet at the east gate in two hours? Just so we can prepare supplies and say goodbye for some time to our loved ones."

"Sure that's absolutely no problem. I'll be there in two hours!", answered Daito with a smile.

* * *

 **Namikaze compound**

"Kaa-chan we've got a C-Rank mission!", shouted Kimiko as she and Naruto ran inside the household. Kushina poked her head out of the kitchen, retracted her head put down what she was doing and ran to her children.

She beamed, "Really? Where to? What are doing? Have packed already? Have you told Aiko-chan already? I'm serious if you're getting injured I'll beat you both to a pulp!", questioned Kushina relentless.

"Kaa-chan… not so many questions at once.", deadpanned Naruto.

"Then tell me already!", pouted Kushina.

Both children chuckled and told her everything they knew about their assignment. In the middle of the explanation, their little sister came and joined their mother in listening. After their explanation, Kushina went into the kitchen to prepare their food for their trip. That left Naruto, Kimiko, and Aiko to prepare the rest like weaponry or utility.

"Onii-chan, Onee-chan?", asked Aiko timidly.

Naruto rose an eyebrow in question but softened his expression and bent down to eye level with his sister, "What is it Aiko-chan?"

"Can you bring me a souvenir?", asked Aiko while poking her fingers together with a tint of pink going across her cheeks.

Naruto smiled but it was Kimiko who answered, "Why shouldn't we? You're our precious little sister. We swore after your birth that we want to make your life as beautiful as possible and so you don't have to experience war as we did. As you know we were born in war-time and we saw the casualties and when we saw your pretty, innocent face we wanted to make sure you don't have to go through things like that."

"So of course we will bring you a souvenir.", said Naruto while ruffling his sister's hair lovingly.

"Please make sure to come back safe.", pleaded Aiko with her smile slightly wavering when she imagined what she would do when her siblings wouldn't return.

They smiled brightly, "Don't worry. Nothing, and I mean nothing will ever separate us! And even if we will always have each other right in here", said Naruto while poking her chest right in the place where the heart is.

"So we have to go now. We're to be at the east gate in fifteen minutes. So take care Aiko while we are gone and continue your studies, perhaps we can even unlock your chakra when we return.", smiled Naruto and put away the storage scroll his mother had made for them when they passed the genin exam.

* * *

 **Timeskip, after two days of travel, just outside of the capital**

"I have to say we got lucky. Normally bandits infest the way to Cha no Kuni.", spoke a relieved Daito with his usual smile on his face.

"Perhaps they just saw how awesome I am, 'ttebayo!", said Kimiko pumping her fist in the air. After a few seconds, she blinked and began to rub the back of her head sheepishly, "I did it again, ne Nii-san?"

"Yes… yes, you did, Nee-chan.", chuckled Naruto in conjunction with Mikoto while Itachi bore the faintest of smiles.

They all laughed and after a few seconds of embarrassment Kimiko joined them in their laughter. Soon they neared the gate to the capital and were stopped by the guards.

"Papers, and reason of visiting please!", asked one of the guards.

They all gave the guards their papers, who checked them for any irregularities. After a minute or two of checking they allowed them entrance into the capital. Once they entered Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi, of course, were excited since this was the first major city they would ever see outside of the village. They looked at their sensei silently asking if they could take a look around. She nodded but her look told them to better not be late at the hotel they would be checking in. If they had a male sensei they may have disobeyed him, but a woman moreover a mother… you don't that. They would beat you to a bloody pulp in the name of their love for you. After all ' _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_ '.

While walking through the capital they quickly agreed on searching for souvenirs since not only Aiko wanted one but apparently, Sasuke wanted one too. On a few occasions, they would meet Sasuke mostly when gathering together the team. Kimiko would always say he would grow up to be a ladies boy. Sasuke didn't know what she meant by that since he was still only four years old but he would most certainly remember it and curse Kimiko when he enters the academy for all the fangirls he would 'gather'.

They thought about what would be sufficient gifts for their little siblings and decided on some sweets, after all, what child doesn't like sweets, and training gear or some odd trinket or something. They found a sweet store quite quickly and bought some sweets. For Aiko, they bought Mochi ice cream while Sasuke would get Anmitsu. They quickly sealed the sweets away so they didn't go bad.

They set out again to find something else to buy their little siblings. Soon enough they found a shop selling oddities and trinkets. Once they entered the store the clerk greeted them friendly, "Why hello there younglings, welcome to my store. What are you searching for?"

The clerk looked to be insanely old easily bordering his early seventies or perhaps even older than that. He had a bald head with many wrinkles and squinted eyes, hindering the genins from finding out his eye color. Additionally, he had quite the long beard reaching his navel. He wore light grey robes, not unlike monks, grey pants held together by a small brown rope acting as a belt, and brown wooden sandals.

"We're searching for a little souvenir for our little siblings since this is the first time outside the village for us and we would like to bring joy to our sister or brother in his case.", spoke Naruto with a smile and pointing to Itachi when he said the last part.

"Oh, are you shinobi? It sure has been a long time since I've seen some. Now you said something about souvenirs?", asked the clerk showing his age with his abilities to remember certain things.

"Yes, exactly we were searching some things for our siblings back home.", answered Kimiko with a small smile.

"Well… do they want to become shinobi as well?", asked the clerk while searching through several drawers to find something fitting.

"Oh yes, little Sasuke-chan won't stop bothering me with training him.", mused Itachi with a smile rather large for him, which is still pretty small compared to normal large smiles. He always seemed to have a soft spot for his little brother.

"Same with little Aiko-chan. She always adores us for already being shinobi even though we're only nine. But we promised her to begin training a little with her once we return.", said Kimiko softly with Naruto smiling as well. Their siblings really meant the world to all three of them. If someone even dared to as much as touch a hair on their head without their consent… well, the hospital surely would need a lot of time to puzzle the body together again.

"Well for the little lady I've already found something.", said the clerk suddenly but still with his usual friendly tone. This brought the attention of the genin back to the clerk who held out a little necklace. The necklace was silver in color with a small sapphire and several ornate decorations, depicting two wolves chasing two separate orbs, one dark and one light, around it.

"This necklace was made by the best jeweler with help from the best blacksmith from Tetsu no Kuni. The necklace itself is made from fine silver, forged by said blacksmith in Tetsu no Kuni while the sapphire was imported from Tsuchi no Kuni. It is one of the purest sapphires found to this day. The ornate decorations are supposed to show a story from far away in the north-western regions of this world far beyond the Elemental Nations. There they believed that two wolves, both twins are chasing separate things. The first is called Sköll and is said to be chasing the sun in the sky during the day. The other is called Hati, who chases the moon during the night. In legends, it is said once both wolves caught their 'prey' at the same time… the world will end.", said the clerk with a smile that showed them that he did not believe one word of it… yet believes in a yōkai called Obariyon, who piggyback rides a human victim with unbearable weight.

Clearly impressed with the story, even if it's about the literal end of the world, they wanted to know the price of the necklace. Even with his squinted eyes the clerk somehow managed to wink at them, "Well normally this necklace would cost about 16.000 ryō but since it is for your little sister who seems to be precious to you I'm willing to let it down to just 5.000 ryō."

Astounded by not only the original price of the necklace but by his willingness to lower the price for someone he just met, they took out their wallets… where surprisingly was no money at all inside. Itachi already knew why but the clerk rose an eyebrow in confusion since he didn't understand why you would go inside a store without money. A quick apply of chakra later and out of both wallets respectively appeared 2.500 ryō, "We would like to buy the necklace please then."

The clerk was still impressed by the sudden appearance of money. The surprise visible in the clerk's eyes showed them that he never saw someone who was versed fūinjutsu, "Young lads how did you do that?"

"In our wallets are seals that store our money inside that only react to our chakra so it is also quite effective against the common pickpocket attempt. The seals themselves are made by our mother.", said Naruto while he and Kimiko were beaming with pride yet not arrogantly.

"That is interesting never saw something like this or maybe I have and can't remember it. Very well, the necklace is yours.", said the clerk and handed them the necklace while taking the money. Naruto quickly sealed the necklace inside his wallet which he then sealed back into the sealing scroll stored in one of the pouches of his trousers.

"Now wait here a little until I've found something for your little brother, um…", began the clerk until he questioned himself if he already asked for their names. that was the moment when they all realized they haven't even introduced each other.

"My name is Namikaze Naruto, this is my twin sister and teammate Namikaze Kimiko, and this is our best friend and teammate Uchiha Itachi. We're here for a mission with our sensei and his mother Uchiha Mikoto.", said Naruto friendly with a gigawatt smile easily mirrored by Kimiko and a small smile from Itachi.

The clerk chuckled and began to introduce himself, "My name is Bansai and I used to be the head monk of the Fire Temple in Hi no Kuni. But I retired and set out to live somewhere else and my journey brought me here to the capital of Cha no Kuni and opened this very store about ten years ago."

This greatly surprised the three genin who have heard about the Fire Temple from their parents respectively. Apparently, its defenses are impenetrable and it is inhabited by ninja monks. Bansai told them a few stories about his life as a monk while searching for a trinket for little Sasuke. Finally after what felt like hours for Kimiko, even if it weren't even more than fifteen minutes, he found something fitting.

"I remember your brother wanted to train and is quite ambitious?", asked Bansai just to be sure. When Itachi nodded he continued, "Then here I have the perfect gift for him."

"This is a blade made by the same blacksmith from Mizu no Kuni who made the famous swords of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū. It is called Kōjin no Ken. Its design was based on the Raijin no Ken, which was constructed by Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama. By channeling chakra inside the handle a flaming blade will appear with the ability to inflict immediate severe burns with even the slightest of touches.", told Bansai the three genin who looked at the weird looking 'sword'. Actually, it was only a pale red colored handle with what looked to be flame-like structures on the handle.

Itachi boldly asked, "How much does it cost? I'm sure my brother would like it, even if he has to wait a few years until he has learned kenjutsu enough to be able to use it."

"That is true, Itachi-kun. Now for the price, it was originally 20.000 ryō but my old monk heart can't bear to demand such prices from such young aspiring shinobis so I will sell it to you for 7.000 ryō.", said Bansai truthfully while looking dreamily most likely remembering his young days.

Itachi took out his own wallet having the same seals Naruto's and Kimiko's have. It was a gift by Kushina when they all graduated from the academy. Unsealing 7.000 ryō he quickly paid the old clerk. He then did the same as Naruto and sealed the handle up.

"Thanks and goodbye, Bansai-ojisan!", said Naruto and waved the old man, with Kimiko and Itachi doing the same. Bansai just waved back until the opened the door and the customer bell rang. Apparently, Bansai thought it was another customer who entered and quickly welcomed the, "Welcome to Bansai's oddities and trinkets. How can I help you?"

This caused the three of them to sweatdrop while simultaneously thinking, ' _Is he senile or something? Or is he enjoying this?_ '

They decided to just leave quickly and use the rest of the time they had to wander around the capital and search for lunch. They found a stand that served both ramen and dango, satisfying both Kimiko and Itachi, since Itachi wanted dango and Kimiko wanted ramen. Of course, Naruto wanted ramen to but he could also eat something else. When they finished eating they got on their way towards the hotel Mikoto told them to go. When they arrived they chatted until dinner and afterwards went to bed.

* * *

 **Next day, park inside the capital of Cha no Kuni**

"For our training session today, we will do something normally at least chūnin-level shinobi learn…", said Mikoto intentionally building suspense to torture them a little… well her two genin except for Itachi, you could easily mistake him for a ROOT ANBU, "... nature transformation."

If one listened hard enough you could actually hear crickets in the background from the awkward silence that followed well at least until Kimiko's eyes threatened to explode as they somehow transformed into two large golden stars showing her excitement, "I always wanted to do that but Kaa-chan and Tou-chan always said we were not ready for that yet." Naruto could only nod dumbly as he wanted to do this as well for a long time. But he satisfied himself by just reading about the theory of Jutsu creation while his sister was impatient… as usual. He then looked up to see Mikoto holding up four sheets of paper, which he quickly recognized as chakra induction paper.

"So the way we're going to do this is by channeling chakra into these sheets of paper. The reaction the paper gives indicates the nature affinity one person has. If a person who has an elemental Kekkei Genkai uses this chakra induction paper, the paper would react by showing the normal reaction for both parts required to use that elemental Kekkei Genkai, like for Hyōton the paper would show the reactions for water and wind but when an elemental Kekkei Genkai is indeed present there is also a little indication to it like again with Hyōton little ice crystals would begin to form.", lectured Mikoto with her three genin absorbing the information, "Also there are clans who are more likely to be born having a specific elemental affinity like the Uchiha and Sarutobi Clans have with fire. But don't think that just because you don't have an affinity towards a certain element means you can't use that element. It will just be harder to train in it and to utilize it effectively. As a matter of fact, to become a jōnin you need to be able to use at least two different nature transformations."

She then handed the three genin their papers but before they could all just channel chakra into the paper at the same time Mikoto stopped them, "I will show you first and then we do it in a round so every one of us sees the affinity the other has.", that being said Mikoto channeled chakra into the paper and it lit itself on fire, "The reaction clearly shows my fire affinity as one could expect from an Uchiha. As I said since I am a jōnin I need to be able to use another element which in my case is earth so I have an offensive and a defensive element to use. Now you Itachi-kun."

Itachi nodded in agreement and closed his eyes as he started to channel chakra into the paper. His paper started to burn as well yet brighter than his mothers, "Well done Itachi-kun. You have a fire affinity as expected considering how quickly you mastered the ' **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** '. Next Naruto-kun please."

Naruto nodded a bit more enthusiastic and also closed his eyes to calm his chakra and to direct it to the paper. When he opened his eyes again he saw his paper cut precisely into two. Yet before Mikoto could elaborate what this meant she noticed that the two pieces also began to burn. And not just a little. Where they were once little embers starting at the bottom of the paper it now became quite the flame, "Very interesting Naruto-kun. It seems you have a primary affinity in the form of wind but also a slightly minor affinity in the form of fire. It is pretty rare to be born with two nature affinities without a Kekkei Genkai, well done. Now last but not least Kimiko-chan if you please would."

Kimiko furiously nodded not even slightly trying to hide her excitement. She quickly closed her eyes as well to concentrate but her grin showed her uncontainable joy. When she opened her eyes once again she witnessed her paper on one half crumbling to dust and on the other dampening. Mikoto's eyes widened once again showing her surprise in two of her students having two nature affinities. She was about to congratulate her student when her eyes widened even further but this time in shock. Slowly the backside of the paper of the half that dampened started to become ligneous, "I-impossible…"

Kimiko, of course, didn't understand what her sensei meant with that but saw her gesturing to turn her paper around. That came as quite the shock when the backside of the paper wasn't damp like the front but rather dry and quite woody. That could only mean one thing… like her brother, before her, she awakened something that should be impossible. While he awakened the Sharingan without any ties to the Uchiha Clan, she awakened the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai which only one person before her awakened. This person was the Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama. Everyone was stunned until the point where Mikoto recovered, "Well how… unexpected. To actually see someone awaken the Mokuton is quite the sight. And additionally to Mokuton you still have both it's components to use; those being water and earth. Both natures can be used defensively while water can also be used on the offensive. Mokuton was said to be able to be both; defense and offense."

After a few minutes of trying to comprehend that Kimiko actually has the Mokuton Mikoto told them what they would do during the week, "We will train for you all to get a certain control over your elements except for your Mokuton Kimiko since I have no idea about it, " admitted Mikoto sheepishly, "we will have to ask Hokage-sama about that. But I do know the first step of control for the five basic elements. Itachi-kun, your first task is to get a bucket full of water and then bring it to the boil using just your fire-natured chakra. For that, you lay your hands on top of the water in the bucket and channel fire-natured chakra into your hands. Naruto-kun, your first task is to get yourself a leaf and place it between your hands, then you channel wind-natured chakra into your palms and to cut cleanly through it. The thinner and cleaner the cut is all the better. When you got that down to a satisfactory degree you'll do the same Itachi-kun is doing right now, to help you with your fire affinity. Now Kimiko-chan, you also get yourself a bucket but instead of boiling the water inside you try to create a whirlpool inside the bucket using your water-natured chakra. Once you've managed to do that you proceed to do your exercise for your earth affinity. Your task is then to pick up a stone between your palms and to crush it with your earth-natured chakra without using physical pressure. Now begin!", shouted Mikoto with a smile as she saw her genin begin their exercises. She truly enjoyed teaching her son and the children of her best friend. She was quite pleased to have been personally asked by the Hokage to be the sensei of his children as well as her eldest son.

With that said the three genin began the exercises they would be doing for the remainder of their week here. Well except Naruto since he doesn't require a bucket for his wind manipulation as well as Kimiko who doesn't require a bucket for her earth manipulation.

They continued this training for the whole week with Mikoto giving them tips once they looked like they needed them, which was not very often. Each of them managed to master the first step of all of their elements, except Kimiko who didn't know what to do to learn better control at Mokuton ninjutsu. But she sure as hell would get right onto that when she got home… after spending time with their family of course, especially Aiko. Since the Senju Clan is all but extinct except for Senju Tsunade who isn't even in the village anymore due to bad memories being connected to the village, the Hokage had custody of all the belongings of the Senju Clan. Thus she can easily get Jutsu scrolls and such.

Mikoto also taught each of them at least one ninjutsu according to their nature affinity, meaning Itachi learned one new jutsu while Naruto and Kimiko learned two.

Furthermore in the week in their free time, they visited Bansai every once in a while who in turn told them stories of the old days like the Dainiji Ninkai Taisen where a lot of ninja monks with knowledge iryō ninjutsu were asked to join the Medical Corps of Konohagakure. He told them of his experiences like the sight of unbreakable resolve to protect one's comrades but he didn't want to sugar-coat war for them. He didn't know they experienced war at a young age, Itachi more so than Naruto and Kimiko since he was actually on one battlefield seeing all the carnage around. He was even forced to take his first life there when a dying Iwagakure shinobi was helped by him but tried to kill him when he recognized him as a 'shinobi-in-training'. Naruto and Kimiko only saw the corpses of the 'heros' that were killed in action leaving behind many widows and orphans. It was greatly saddening but they understood that this was the life of a shinobi.

While the experience of war transformed Itachi into a pacifist, it turned Naruto and Kimiko, not in pacifists. If they don't have to they won't kill but if they are the likes of bandits for an example who have pleasure in the pain and suffering of others they would show no mercy. Itachi would do the same but with the experiences of war combined with the birth of their little siblings, the only thing they want is peace. Funny how fate brought together three shinobi with a common goal and sight on the world.

Bansai was once again stunned but also greatly saddened for the three of them to experience war at such a tender young age that forced them to grow up quicker than usual. Other than that he still told them stories about other things such as his pilgrimage he did when he was just a young man after the Dainiji Ninkai Taisen. He traveled the Elemental Nations searching for the answer to peace to prevent a war from happening again and found it in the temple of Amaterasu. ' _Sometimes cleansing fire is required to bring peace. But most of the time to find peace and love all you need is the adoration or admiration of a child. Children can warm the coldest heart or enlighten the darkest corner. By protecting the younger generation one makes sure peace can be found one day, for they shall and will bring it._ ', thought Bansai as he remembered what a priestess of Amaterasu once told him. He told them how when he returned he insisted to watch after the younger generation of the temple and to nurture them into fine young man and monks. Due to his achievements in training and teaching a generation with the wisest and strongest monks in decades, he was quickly made the head monk of the Fire Temple.

All these stories have been very interesting in the minds of the three genin and gave them something to think about in their free time but time flew by fairly quickly and the week was over meaning their departure from the capital of Cha no Kuni. Surprisingly Bansai even came to the gate to wish them good luck and prayed for their safe being for the way back. That prayer actually seemed to help… at least until they stumbled over thirty bandits wanting to rob the merchant and kidnap Mikoto and Kimiko to, in their words, 'take care of them'. That, of course, didn't sit well with Naruto and Itachi as they positioned themselves in front of the thirty men strong band of bandits. It was quite heart-warming for Mikoto to see her son and his best friend, not counting Shisui, to stand in front of them protectively, seemingly forgetting that she has far more experience as well as skill as him since she is a jōnin and Itachi still a genin. Still heart-warming nonetheless.

"Retreat now bandits or you will regret it.", threatened Naruto with a dangerous voice channeling a bit of killing intent into his voice while pulling out a kunai and holding it in a reverse grip.

While the weaker bandits were put on edge because of the killing intent, the stronger bandits just got cockier and even grinned arrogantly, "Oh look at that… the brat actually thinks he can intimidate us with his little killing intent."

Having enough of their banter Naruto and Itachi charged forward to engage in close quarter combat while Kimiko would support them with long-range ninjutsu. Mikoto would only intervene if they struggled otherwise she could actually sit down and relax or read a book. She was confident her genin would be able to take the bandits even if they outnumbered them ten to one.

Naruto and Itachi both activated their Sharingan and began to slice through three the weaker bandits.

Seeing a sword slash coming at him from his right, Naruto ducked down and lunged forward intent on killing his opponent quickly and painlessly. But before he could reach his target a kunai cut him off. He quickly stopped to block the kunai and three shurikens who accompanied the kunai. Quickly glancing over to Itachi, who caught eye contact with him, they both jumped back in sync. They quickly went through the necessary hand seals and simultaneously shouted,

" **Katon: Gōkaykū no Jutsu** "

" **Fūton: Daitoppa** "

The combination of the jutsu caused the already huge fireball to grow even further in size and turn white from the intense heat. A large part of the bandits had no idea how to dodge a fireball so big and just gave up and accepted death. Due to this attack, at least ten bandits were burnt to a crisp. The rest shook off their shock relatively quickly and began to charge at the two genin. Yet before they could reach them they heard another shout,

" **Doton: Doryūheki** "

From the back Kimiko spat out a stream of mud in front of Naruto and Itachi, creating a seven-foot-high mud wall cutting the bandits off of the genin. The short moment of irritation that spread among the bandits was enough time for Itachi to go around the left of the wall, while Naruto came around the right of the wall and engaged bandits in close quarter combat once again. Seeing that the mud wall was only going to be in the way now, Kimiko quickly dispelled it, causing it to return underground.

Naruto currently was engaged in a fight with a bandit who wielded a katana. Even a newborn could see that the bandit had absolutely no training using it and only swung around carelessly. That, of course, gave Naruto many opportunities to exploit his openings in guard. Seeing another swipe of the katana at his left, Naruto raised his kunai to intercept the katana and halted it. He then kicked the bandit in the stomach and threw a kunai after him, effectively finishing him off.

Meanwhile, Itachi was having slightly bit more trouble since his Sharingan was still only a two-tomoe Sharingan and not like Naruto's fully matured. Still, he slashed through the bandits relatively easy, already having killed about four of them. Overall the bandits were no match for the genin, Naruto and Itachi would take care of the bandits in front of them and Kimiko would take care of the bandits that tried to come behind them with the ' **Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu** '. The most part of the bandits were taken care of with only three of the stronger bandits, who were still weak compared to any kind of shinobi, remaining.

"You brats… you will regret this!", shouted one of the bandits, forgetting all rationality and engaged the genin. He actually got about four feet closer to them until three, perfectly synchronized, kunai embedded themselves in vital parts of his body. His body hit the ground in a thumb. Naruto then looked down at the corpse feeling a bit of remorse since he killed a lot today but remembered himself that bandits don't care who they hurt, they just take what they want, kill who they want, and rape whoever they want. He steeled himself again and looked one bandit directly into the eye. The other bandit just saw his only remaining partner suddenly tense up and sweat profusely. His eyes were widened and he shivered. What the bandit next to the shivering bandit didn't know was that he was caught in a genjutsu the moment he looked at Naruto's eyes even if it was only a fraction of a second. This fraction of a second was long enough for Naruto to place him under genjutsu whispering, " **Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu** ".

The bandit that was trapped in the genjutsu saw large stakes made of metal appear around him and strike him in several non-vital parts of his body, effectively paralyzing him with pain. Additionally, the world around him turned to menacing shades of red and orange with the occasional shade of pure black. Outside of the genjutsu, the other bandit didn't know what happened to his partner, even though he knew about ninjutsu and genjutsu in general as techniques that shinobi use, he never saw the effects of genjutsu like this thus not even realizing that his partner was placed under genjutsu.

These distracting thoughts became his downfall once he looked in front again he saw a large stream of water closing in on him with a shout, " **Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu** ". The bandit was violently thrown against a tree hitting his head and dying from the impact since unlike shinobis, bandits can't use chakra to reinforce their muscles and tissues to resist such impact pressure.

Following the rather violent death of the bandit, a shuriken was thrown at the bandit caught in genjutsu killing him quickly. With that, the battle ended in just fifteen minutes. Mikoto stood up once again and asked her genin to gather the corpses of the bandits. After doing that they were quickly burnt by a simple katon jutsu, of course, outside the sight of the client since he didn't need to see that. They returned to the client and apologized for the interruption and that they could continue back to Konoha… never noticing the pair of green eyes in the distance closely watching Naruto and Kimiko.

* * *

 **Author note:**

 **Normally I don't do stuff like this but if someone wants to help me, I'd appreciate it. I'm not one for using canon dōjutsu abilities like Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi and such for characters that shouldn't have them. I would only use Amaterasu when it's Sasuke or Itachi using it, and Tsukuyomi only in conjunction with Itachi. Thus I have created my own dōjutsu abilities for Naruto, once he awakens the Mangekyō Sharingan and I tried to make them so they follow the standard Mangekyō Sharingan rules. Completely broken yet balanced… somehow. But I haven't been able to come up for a totally broken Rinnegan ability for Naruto yet explainable ability. Still, I won't just use Rinbo: Hengoku or Amenotejikara since they're exclusive to the Rinnegans of Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Sasuke respectively. So I would like to ask you to create your own Rinnegan ability. But as I said they should be explainable as well as imaginable not some completely overpowered things like *cough* Tengai Shinsei *cough* Madara *cough*. It has to be broken but counterable even if only by a single person with a special ability like a Kekkei Genkai or a special clans Hidenjutsu. Of course, the one whose ability I like most will be thanked and mentioned in the fanfiction's author notes. Thank you for your support. :)**

 **On another note, if someone is not familiar with the desserts or the mythology behind Sköll and Hati mentioned in the fanfiction, they can be easily looked up on Wikipedia.**

* * *

" **Cha no Kuni** = " **Land of Tea** "

" **Tetsu no Kuni** " = " **Land of Iron** "

" **Hi no Kuni** " = " **Land of Fire** "

" **Mizu no Kuni** " = " **Land of Water** "

" **Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū** " = " **Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist** "

" **Kōjin no Ken** " = " **Sword of the Fire God** "

" **Raijin no Ken** " = " **Sword of the Thunder God** "

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique** "

" **Dainiji Ninkai Taisen** " = " **Second Shinobi World War** "

" **Fūton: Daitoppa** " = " **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough** "

" **Doton: Doryūheki** " = " **Earth Release: Mud Wall** "

" **Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu** " = " **Water Release: Water Bullet Technique** "

" **Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu** " = " **Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique** "


	4. Revelations and Theories

**Chapter 4**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

 **Jutsu and general translations at the bottom of the chapter!**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I would then Sai would've been killed by Orochimaru the first time they met. I can't stand this guy.**

* * *

 **Hokage office**

"... and that's everything Hokage-sama.", said Mikoto effectively finishing her report to the Hokage, intentionally not telling him about Kimiko having the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai since Kimiko asked her to keep quiet so she can tell her father herself. Minato had a warm smile on his face since he missed his two eldest children in the almost two weeks they were gone.

"Very well, you have my thanks for executing your mission so well. Daito-san has promised to recommend Konoha's services to other merchants as well.", said Minato then waving dismissingly, "You're dismissed. You all have a week off of duty. Spend some time with your families I'm sure they'll appreciate that.", ended Minato with a small smile before returning to the ever-present paperwork that came with the job of a Kage.

Team 2 nodded in appreciation and dismissed themselves chorusing for the last time, "Hai Hokage-sama/Tou-sama!"

Yet before they left Mikoto turned around and said teasingly, "Hokage-sama Kimiko has found something she may want to show you later… it will be grandiose.", she turned around again and left leaving Minato with a risen eyebrow watching after the leaving kunoichi.

Leaving the big Hokage tower Team 2 broke up into two groups of two with Mikoto and Itachi heading towards the Uchiha compound while Naruto and Kimiko head towards the Namikaze compound. After a few minutes of walking and chatting about how cool their first time outside the village was, they finally arrived at their home.

Entering their home they couldn't even begin to greet their mother and little sister before being hugged into submission by their mother and their little sister attempting to do the same with one of Kimiko's and one of Naruto's legs. Not being able to balance themselves anymore all four of them fell to the ground. After a few seconds of awkward silence, all of them broke out into laughter due to being happy to see each other again. After all, it was the first time Naruto and Kimiko went outside the safe walls of the village and they were gone for almost two weeks. Kushina couldn't keep her motherly instincts at bay anymore and began to check her 'babies' for injuries and such. After what felt like several minutes of them both repeatedly telling their mother that they were not injured in any way, Kushina finally let go of them allowing them to stand up once again.

"What were you two thinking of staying so long away from home?", questioned Kushina her children with mock-anger.

"Sorry Kaa-chan, but we couldn't travel at shinobi speeds with the civilian merchant in tow. But we have got something to make up for it… at least for Aiko-neechan.", Naruto said while at the last part both he and Kimiko rubbed the back of their head sheepishly.

Kushina looked on in mock-horror and muttered, "They forgot to bring something for me… they don't care about their Kaa-chan…", a few seconds later she 'recovered' from her mock-depression, "So what did you bring your little Aiko-chan?", Kushina asked teasingly while Aiko's eyes were literal stars.

"What did you bring me Onii-chan, Onee-chan?", asked Aiko with barely contained excitement. She waited for the last two weeks for her siblings to finally return, she dearly missed them.

"Let's do that in the kitchen rather than here in the entrance.", said Kimiko while giggling a little. They all agreed since it would be awkward for everyone who could see them. When they reached the kitchen they sat down on their respective seats… well everyone except Aiko since she preferred to sit on here big brothers lap. She surely admired them a lot.

Naruto took out the sealing scroll his mother made for him and unsealed his wallet. Once that was unsealed, he first unsealed the mochi ice cream they bought for Aiko, "Here Aiko-neechan. This is mochi ice cream. In concept, it is pounded sticky rice filled with ice cream, in this case, filled with strawberry ice cream, after all, we know you like strawberries the most… after Ichiraku ramen.", said Naruto laughing at the last part.

Aiko took one of the mochi ice cream pieces into her mouth and chewed a bit until her eyes lit up in fireworks, ' _Did I just see fireworks in her eyes or am I hallucinating?_ ', thought Kimiko a little bit freaked out that she literally could see fireworks in her little sister's eyes… or at least she thought she saw something like that.

Aiko turned around on Naruto's lap and began to hug his mid-section squealing at the godlike taste of it. With that Mochi ice cream was immediately placed on at least the same level as Ichiraku ramen on Aiko's favorite food list… perhaps even surpassing ramen, "I'm glad you like it. We looked around for a while to decide on which sweet we should buy you in the capital. But that wasn't the only thing we bought you.", said Kimiko anticipating Aiko's and their mother's reaction at the necklace they bought Aiko.

Naruto once again channeled a bit of chakra into the seal of the wallet and out came a little transporting box normally used for jewelry. Passing it on to Aiko so she could open it herself, she gleamed at the sight of a beautiful necklace made of fine silver and the most beautiful sapphire one could ever hope to see. Adorning the area around the sapphire were decorations obviously telling some kind of story. Kushina's reaction wasn't much different when she saw the beautiful sapphire. Seeing the confusion on Aiko's face as she tried to comprehend what the decorations tried to tell her, Naruto and Kimiko only chuckled since that was their exact reaction when they saw it at first too.

"The ornate decorations are supposed to show a story from far away in the north-western regions of this world far beyond the Elemental Nations. There they believed that two wolves, both twins are chasing separate things. The first is called Sköll and is said to be chasing the sun in the sky during the day. The other is called Hati, who chases the moon during the night. In legends, it is said once both wolves catch their 'prey' at the same time… the world will end in an event called Ragnarök.", explained Naruto to Aiko and Kushina who had expressions on their faces that showed that it was a nice legend but they didn't believe it one second… once again this legend was bested by the belief that some demon called Obariyon piggyback rides a victim to death with unbearable weight.

"Onii-chan… Onee-chan… it is beautiful!", exclaimed Aiko happily and sprang up on Naruto's lap to hug him to death. After hugging Naruto until he had no breath anymore and turned blue, Aiko focussed her attention to her big sister and gave her the same treatment of almost suffocating them with love.

"But Aiko-neechan… we didn't forget the last promise we gave you.", stated Kimiko with a smile while Aiko's eyes widened to the size of saucers, "I see you remember our promise to help you unlock your chakra today.", exclaimed Naruto happily.

"Kaa-chan wanna help? I'm sure Aiko-neechan would appreciate it, am I right Aiko-neechan?", asked Naruto and upon seeing Aiko nod furiously he smiled again and looked up at his mother. Kushina smiled lovingly, "Oh, you don't know how much I want to do that, 'ttedane.", quickly putting both her hands on her mouth and hoping nobody heard that little slip. But one look at Naruto's deadpan expression and his slightly twitching eyebrow told her he indeed heard it.

Recovering from his little show of annoyance Naruto asked everyone to get on the training field of the compound. Once they all arrived there, they sat down on the ground in a meditation pose and told Aiko to copy the pose. Naruto asked Kushina to erect a silencing and chakra isolating barrier just in case, to which Kushina only rose an eyebrow in confusion although she feared that Naruto may have found out about a little secret of theirs. Once Aiko managed to sit down comfortably, Kimiko began, "To unlock your chakra you need to first relax. Once you relax it will become ten times easier to unlock your chakra. Now when you relaxed search deep inside you. Somewhere inside of you, most likely positioned in your gut, there is some kind of warm feeling. When you feel it you have to bring it forth. It should feel like your pulling something out of the deep inside of you. You then have to pull until you pulled it all out. Understood?", asked Kimiko at the end, receiving an excited nod as the answer.

"Don't worry Onee-chan, Onii-chan, I'll make you both proud. I'm gonna do this at my first try. Dattebasa!", said Aiko happily until she mimicked the gesture that Kushina and Kimiko always do when they accidentally say their verbal tick.

Naruto's shoulders just slumped down and he cried anime tears, "Not another one…"

"Don't act like that Nii-san! You know you love us all dearly. Isn't that right?", said Kimiko with puppy eyes. It only took about a second and he alone was facing three women/girls using puppy eyes to make him submit to their supreme power.

Naruto just sighed knowing he was defeated after all Kimiko often used this look, before they entered the shinobi academy, to make him buy her candy or toys. And you can't just ignore this look… it's hypnotizing. He then turned his attention back to Aiko who began to search for her chakra inside of her.

' _Onee-chan said it feels like something warm inside my gut. I'll make Onii-chan, Onee-chan, and Kaa-chan proud of me and unlock my chakra at my first try. Then I will… No, I can't get too excited, Onee-chan said I need to relax. Relax, Aiko, relax._ ', thought Aiko while searching around her body, mentally, of course, to find her source of chakra. Minutes went by and still, nothing happened. Aiko already once thought to have found her chakra several minutes ago but it felt far too malevolent and evil compared to the chakra of her siblings and parents when she watched them train, well mostly her siblings.

Suddenly she found an incredibly warm feeling inside her gut that felt quite calming and powerful, but at the same time dense like it was as solid as a rock but still flowing casually like water… somehow. She began to pull and to her surprise, it didn't retaliate or hindered the pulling in any kind. That only served to solidify her believe that her chakra was so dense and yet so smooth.

On the outside, Kushina and her two other children looked dumbfounded at the sheer amount of chakra Aiko was releasing. ' _That's incredible… she has more chakra than Kaa-chan and Aiko-neechan's chakra is even denser than Kaa-chan's._ ', thought Kimiko easily sensing the incredible density of the chakra of her little sibling. Kushina was just as surprised about this just like her daughter while Naruto watched with a smile as if knowing his little sister had this much chakra. Even with their differing reactions to this, they all beamed with pride.

It took about five minutes more until the massive stream of chakra finally stopped and Aiko stood up with a huge grin matching Kushina's, Naruto's, and Kimiko's own smiles. Suddenly her eyes began to close slightly and she fell forward. But before she could hit the ground Naruto already caught her. "Onii-chan why am I so sleepy now?", asked Aiko cutely yawning half-way through her question.

"That's normal Aiko-neechan. Unlocking your chakra is very tiring to everyone since you expel almost all the chakra your body has in it. Naturally after the process of unlocking the one who unlocked his chakra is suffering from chakra exhaustion. Don't worry a good nights sleep will help you and tomorrow we can work on something like chakra control alright?", explained Naruto with a loving smile only his family would most likely ever see. Kushina smiled at this show of brotherly affection.

Naruto created a shadow clone to take Aiko to her room. The clone nodded and took Aiko to bring her to her room. Naruto then turned to his mother his face turning into a scowl, "Kaa-chan… when did you and Tou-chan want to tell us that Aiko-neechan is the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi?"

Kushina's smile quickly disappeared as her eyes widened to the size of saucers just like Kimiko's. ' _Nii-san didn't mean that right? Kaa-chan and Tou-chan would never seal the Kyūbi in Aiko-neechan, right?_ ', thought Kimiko, her mind going into overdrive.

Kushina sighed in sadness, "Sit down both of you… this story might take a while.", and so she told them what happened that fateful day almost five years ago. How a masked man broke into the maximum security barrier without raising the alarm, how he separated her from Aiko and Minato so that he could rip out the Kyūbi and tame it with his Sharingan so that he could destroy Konoha. How she managed to convince her husband not to use the ' **Shiki Fūjin** ' to seal the Kyūbi in Aiko and at least settle with a modified version of the ' **Hakke no Fūin Shiki** ' so that he could live on with her and their children so that they did not need to grow up as orphans. Kushina told them how she held down the Kyūbi with her chakra chains to allow Minato time to set up the seal which involved not only the main seal but also they seal that would suck up all the chakra of the Kyūbi to make sure he was thoroughly sealed. She also explained why nobody was told who the Kyūbi jinchūriki is… mainly because of Danzō. While she was already talking about Danzō, she also instructed them to never trust him no matter how tempting his offers may appear as they will make them into emotionless drones only loyal to Danzō.

Naruto and Kimiko sighed in sadness knowing that their sister had a burden that they wanted not to happen to anybody… not even enemies. Kushina mistook their simultaneous sigh as a sign that he now didn't want anything to do with his sister anymore and began to plead, "Please don't take your attention away from her and scorn her… she hasn't done anything wrong!"

Both rose an eyebrow in question and Naruto spoke up, "Nobody will ever separate us from our sister. She is Aiko nothing more, nothing less. And anybody that even attempts to look at her wrong will meet a fireball to the face!", declared Naruto passionately with Kimiko nodding in agreement, except for the fireball part. In her case, it would likely be a glob of dense, chakra-filled water.

Kushina visibly relaxed her tensing muscles, happy knowing that her children didn't blame their sister for that day or hate her. "But still why her? Couldn't he just seal the Kyūbi away in someone else?", asked Kimiko hoping for an answer.

"Sealing the Kyūbi isn't as easy as you think. First and foremost, the sheer amount of chakra the Kyūbi possesses makes it impossible to seal into anything other than a newborn with just developing chakra coils. When you attempt to seal it into an adult, the adult's chakra coils would be fried and he would die a rather excruciating death. Additionally, due to the density of Kyūbi's chakra, only those with unnaturally high chakra reserves as well as life-force can contain the Kyūbi. Thus only Uzumaki or in some very rare cases some Senju, namely only Senju Hashirama, are compatible to seal the Kyūbi inside. As a matter of fact is was brought here for the sole reason to become the second jinchūriki of the Kyūbi for the sole reason of my unnaturally high chakra reserves with amazing density as well as incredible life-force, even by Uzumaki standards. My life-force is in fact so strong that I survived the extraction of a bijū where every other person would instantly die after the bijū is extracted.", explained Kushina slowly understanding why Naruto asked her to put up the barrier in the first place. The silencing barrier so no one could hear the conversation after the chakra unlocking, and the chakra isolating barrier so she would not suspect anything and in case some of the Kyūbi's chakra would leak out.

"Unluckily that's understandable. But pitying her will not help her we just need to make sure she learns to harness the power of the Kyūbi… good thing we have quite the arsenal against jinchūriki and their respective bijū's powers.", mused Naruto and before Kushina could ask him to elaborate he continued, "For one we have you Kaa-chan with your chakra chains, that you have told us are able to subdue even the Kyūbi. Then we have my Sharingan since it's common knowledge that the Sharingan can tame the bijū. And last but not least we have Nee-chan."

"I understand the first two but I'm not aware of Kimiko-chan having any ability helpful against jinchūriki and/or bijū.", stated Kushina.

"Well then you're ready for a surprise but before that can you erect another barrier that blurs out anything that happens inside? I want this to be a surprise for Tou-chan and I don't want his ANBU to report it to him just yet.", said Kimiko happily subtly remembering her mother that she was one of the most talented sensors in the Elemental Nations.

Kushina accepted the reasoning and quickly put up the asked barrier, "So what do you want to show me?"

"This.", said Kimiko simply while taking out a piece of chakra induction paper. She then channeled chakra into it resulting in the withering away to dust of one half while the other dampened quickly. Yet Kushina wasn't prepared for the dampened part of the paper to dry up rather quickly to replace it with a woody looking surface. Shock was written all over Kushina's face as she struggled to mutter comprehensible words, "I-is t-that what I-I think i-it is?"

Kimiko smiled happily and nodded fiercely, "Yep! We found out that I somehow have Shodai-sama's Mokuton Kekkei Genkai on our C-Rank mission, where we learned of our elemental affinities. Nii-san has fire and wind. While I have the components of the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai, Water and Earth! But don't tell Tou-chan it's planned as a surprise as I told you before.", stated Kimiko giggling while saying the last part.

Kushina just dumbly nodded her mind seemingly shutting down from shock but in actuality, it was working overdrive, ' _My children have awakened two powers they shouldn't have. How is it possible? With Naruto-kun we already tested if we have an Uchiha ancestor in our family but we haven't. With Kimiko, it does make at least a tiny bit more sense. After all the Uzumaki were the Senju's sister clan but still even when it was tested that Shodai-sama's Kekkei Genkai the results showed that it will never be passed down to anyone in the Senju Clan since it awakened due to his unique chakra apparently…_ '

Meanwhile, Naruto was thinking along the same path. He already thought about it during their way back to Konoha as well as during their free time in the capital of Cha no Kuni. But what caught his attention today was the test of Shodai Hokage's chakra. His unique chakra that seemingly awakened the extremely rare Kekkei Genkai, ' _If Senju Hashirama awakened the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai due to unique chakra… then Kimiko must have…_ ', a look of realization dawned upon Naruto's face, his eyes widening, which caught both female's attention,' _... the exact same chakra signature as Senju Hashirama! The only way to prove this is to have someone who knew Shodai-sama's chakra signature exceptionally well to still remember it to this day… and I know just the person!_ '

Kushina and Kimiko waited for Naruto to tell them why his eyes widened, at least until Kushina got bored, after approximately fifteen seconds of waiting for an answer, and spoke to him, "What is it Naruto-kun?"

That kicked Naruto out of his theory forming and turned to both of them, "Kaa-chan can you lower the barriers we need to speak to Hiruzen-jiji!"

"Why?", was the intelligent answer of one red-headed Uzumaki woman. The answer was equally short being about four words long, "To test my theory."

Kushina shrugged and lowered the barriers, calling down an ANBU and telling the ANBU to 'please gather the old closet pervert who once wore the big red hat.'

Before the ANBU could reprimand Kushina that she shouldn't call the Sandaime Hokage a closet pervert, he remembered what happened last time someone tried to reprimand Kushina outside of her family. Needless to say, the ANBU didn't want to be put in the hospital barely recognizable, being a bloody heap of meat. So the ANBU 'kindly' let it slip and shunshined away to bring Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The family of three went back into their family home where Kushina put tea on the stove since she knew she would be interrupting Hiruzen's tea time right about now. After five minutes of waiting, the bell of the house rang. Naruto stood up and opened the door, letting the man both he and his siblings dubbed, Hiruzen-jiji, into their family home. The loud rang of the bell also woke up an inhabitant of the house who slept about two to three hours due to chakra exhaustion. She rubbed her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness and wondered where she was. She looked around the room and recognized it as her own. She also saw the clone of her favorite sibling, by a small margin, smiling softly at her. She immediately brought up a gigawatt smile with her brother returning it in equal force.

"Onii-chan I did it!", she exclaimed happily, jumping out of bed and hugging her brother fiercely.

"That you did, Aiko-neechan, I'm proud of you, as is Nee-chan and Kaa-chan!", answered Naruto to her silent question he knew she thought about. After all, he was the person that could easily say he knew his little sister better than anyone else, even more so than his twin sister and their parents.

"How long did I sleep?", asked Aiko yawning cutely, still trying to get rid of her sleepiness.

"About two to three hours.", stated the Naruto clone, "by the way… Hiruzen-jiji is currently home wanna go meet up with him?"

Naruto didn't have to wait long before suddenly all of Aiko's former sleepiness was replaced with joy. She liked their surrogate grandfather very dearly. He was always so wise and funny… even if he always smoked which she didn't like so much, but hey... every person has his or her flaws.

Naruto took her small hand and guided her down the stairs into the living room. Once they arrived there they saw Hiruzen sitting on the couch holding up a cup of tea surrounded by armchairs which were occupied by Kushina, Naruto, and Kimiko respectively. They turned towards the hallway and saw Aiko holding the hand of a shadow clone created by Naruto. Aiko let go of Naruto's hand and ran to Hiruzen to hug him… even if he stank like smoke. Taking this as his cue to leave the clone dispelled itself. When receiving the memories of the clone, Naruto couldn't help but smile at the little conversation his clone had with Aiko. After the hug, Aiko turned away from Hiruzen and took her usual place on Naruto's lap.

Naruto played a little with her hair, relaxing Aiko to the point where she could fall down the armchair, which was solely prevented by Naruto holding her. After a few more minutes Hiruzen finally asked, "Soo… why was I called here?"

That broke Naruto out of his 'playing with Aiko's hair' session and he turned towards the old shinobi, "I requested that you were called here since you were quite close with Shodai-sama back in the day, am I right?"

"You assumed quite correctly Naruto-kun. But what of it?", asked Hiruzen honestly not knowing what they wanted of him.

"As far as I remember you are a sensor type, right? Do you remember his chakra signature or the feeling his chakra gave off?", asked Naruto out of the blue.

At this point, Hiruzen rose an eyebrow. Why would Naruto ask of Shodai Hokage's chakra signature? He nodded at Naruto who took it as a 'yes'.

"Could you describe how it felt?", questioned Naruto. Hiruzen saw no harm done by this so he described it to them.

"Hashirama-sensei's chakra always felt calm and peaceful, like it couldn't harm a fly. Just being in his vicinity allowed everyone to be far more relaxed than normally possible in the harsh life of a shinobi. But when he entered battle his seemingly unending chakra reserves could instill fear in the most emotionless shinobi. He truly deserved the title of 'Shinobi no Kami'!", said Hiruzen reminiscing about the past and the 'good old days'.

"Okay… would you recognize it again?", asked Naruto. Hiruzen nodded and thought nothing of it… that was at least until Naruto spoke up once again, "Then I would ask of you to compare the chakra Senju Hashirama used to give off to the chakra Nee-chan gives off!"

Everyone, except Aiko who was confused right now, had wide eyes. Did Naruto know something they did not? If yes what is it?"

Hiruzen took a sip of the tea he was handed to relax his slowly drying throat. He then began to concentrate on Kimiko's chakra and compare it with the memory of Hashirama's chakra which he remembered quite good. After all, you wouldn't easily forget the chakra of a shinobi once hailed as the 'Shinobi no Kami'. When he finally finished comparing both Hashirama's and Kimiko's chakra signature her couldn't help but rip open his now wide eyes, "H-how is that possible?", asked Hiruzen incredulously. How was it possible that Kimiko's chakra did not just feel like his deceased sensei's chakra but have the exact same feeling to the last detail.

Kushina's and Kimiko's eyes wandered between Hiruzen and Naruto, obviously waiting for an explanation. When they looked at Naruto expectantly he turned his gaze back at Hiruzen, who still hadn't recovered from his shock, and asked him to explain. Needless to say when Kushina and Kimiko both heard that Kimiko had the exact chakra signature as the one and only Senju Hashirama, former head of the Senju Clan, and Shodai Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

While everyone tried to come up with an explanation as to how Kimiko had the same chakra as Hashirama, except Aiko who couldn't care less as long as she had her Onii-chan right here with her, Naruto thoughts looped quite a bit back in time, ' _Maybe the awakening of my Sharingan has the same cause of appearing as Nee-chan's… but I'm the first non-Uchiha to ever awaken the Sharingan… wait what did Itachi say once?_ '

* * *

 **Flashback, one year prior, Training ground 3**

' _I'm serious Naruto! Your visual prowess is frightening. It could easily match that of Uchiha Madara! Your hairstyle doesn't help with me imagining you being mini-Madara with less treachery and power hunger.', stated Itachi in a rare show of such emotion._

 _Naruto laughed it off stating that was nonsense and begged for the fight to continue. Itachi just thought, 'He even has the same desire of a good fight like Madara… well, I want to continue as well!' were Itachi last thoughts before he focussed on the spar once again._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

Naruto's eyes widened once again for the umpteenth time that day and turned to Hiruzen for what Hiruzen hoped was the last time today. His old heart could only take so much shock a single day, "Say Hiruzen-jiji, you remember Shodai-sama's chakra… but what about the chakra of the greatest rival of Senju Hashirama and greatest traitor of Konohagakure no Sato, Uchiha Madara?"

Hiruzen scrunched his old face together in concentration, accidentally creating a few more wrinkles on his old face. He then remembered it, "Madara's chakra always felt dark in a fight like he considered his opponent not worth his time, except whenever he faced Hashirama-sensei. The only times his chakra felt warm was around Hashirama before Madara's defection and Sensei once told me that his chakra used to feel warm whenever he was around his last sibling, Uchiha Izuna, well that was before Izuna's untimely death at the hands of Tobirama-sensei during the Warring States Era."

Realization soon dawned upon Hiruzen's and every other's faces, once again except Aiko who actually began to take a nap, when they saw Naruto's expectant gaze, "You want me to compare Uchiha Madara's chakra to your own, am I right?"

Naruto only nodded and Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his temples to soothe a forming headache, ' _I'm getting too old for this. I thought I could live a simple, peaceful life after stepping down. Guess not. I better... just… compare Naruto-kun's… chakra to… Madara's. Why does Naruto's chakra feel exactly like how Hashirama-sensei described Madara's chakra before Izuna's death…_ ', deadpanned Hiruzen in his thoughts.

One the outside Hiruzen just sighed and nodded, effectively confirming Naruto's theory, "So for some reason, Kimiko and I share the chakra of two of the most powerful shinobi to ever grace the world… the question is why do we have a connection that seems to surpass that of blood relation?", asked Naruto all who were there. They discussed this for a few more hours until it was getting late and Hiruzen bid farewell to everyone.

Just at that moment, a yellow flash appeared in the living room. Now standing there was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato… after finally beating the paperwork of the day. He saw Hiruzen and was about to ask why he was here and looked so tired. As if answering the unasked question Hiruzen pointed at Naruto, "He will explain. I'm tired… good night."

Minato looked at his eldest who sighed and started to explain what they discussed the majority of the day. To say Minato was flabbergasted would be to say that Tsunade wasn't a drunk or that Jiraiya wasn't a pervert. His expression made quite the imitation of a gaping fish. After that Naruto said he was going to tuck Aiko into bed and then going to go to bed himself with Kimiko following shortly after.

Meanwhile, Minato thought about what was revealed to him, ' _Maybe I'll ask Jiraiya-sensei to search for cases such as this which occurred earlier on in history. There have to be clues about this somewhere._ ', he told himself he'll send a toad to his sensei tomorrow since he's quite tired already and just wants to go to bed. Going through the hallways of the upper level of the Namikaze mansion he saw the door to Aiko's room a little open. When gazing inside he saw Aiko under her blanket, Naruto, and Kimiko to both her sides on top of the blanket respectively. They read her a good night story that Minato and Kushina would always read when the twins were younger and couldn't sleep. He smiled and closed the door, prepared himself for bed and went to bed right next to his wife who was already sleeping.

* * *

 **October 10th, Aiko's fifth birthday**

"Happy birthday Aiko!", was the chorus of her family when she woke up that day. She smiled instantly and was up in an instant somehow dressing faster than Minato moves whenever he uses the ' **Hiraishin no Jutsu** '. She was ecstatic on her birthdays they always did so fun things like going to the park and play with all her friends. When they went downstairs her mouth salivated when she smelled her favorite breakfast… miso ramen with extra pork. When she asked who made it they said, "We all made it!"

This made her smile widely and they ate breakfast. When they were done Kushina and Minato told her that she would get her presents when they arrived at the park. Apparently, her friends were already waiting for her. This caused her to drag her family by the wrists to the park… right through all the dirt. Arriving at the park she found the beautifully decorated part of the park where she saw all her friends waiting with their families talking among themselves. She also saw a table with presents in the corner. She looked around and spotted all her friends:

First, there was the heir to the Inuzuka Clan, Inuzuka Kiba, who was a very active child just like Aiko and he was her best male friend. He was almost always accompanied by his mother, Inuzuka Tsume or his sister, Inuzuka Hana, who was actually attending the same class as Itachi, Naruto, and Kimiko and was one of their friends. His clan is known for their collaboration jutsus with their ninken. Every Inuzuka member is introduced to his ninken at the age of ten.

Next was the heiress to the Hyūga Clan, Hyūga Hinata, who was a very timid and kind individual and like her mother didn't like the treatment of the branch family members inside the Hyūga Clan. Thus she was quite loved in the branch family of the Hyūga Clan except for Hyūga Neji who blames her for the death of his father a few months prior, where Hinata was abducted by a Kumo shinobi, who was in Konoha for peace talks. Apparently, the civilian council of Kumogakure no Sato issued a second mission where he was to kidnap the heiress of the Hyūga Clan and bring her to Kumo for a breeding program. Although Hinata's father, Hyūga Hiashi, killed the shinobi, Kumo demanded reparations in for of the clan head. His twin brother, Hyūga Hizashi, volunteered, unknown to Neji, to be killed in his stead so Hiashi didn't have to die and the Byakugan would stay safe. After all, the ' **Kago no Tori no Juin** ' seals off the Byakugan when the bearer of the seal dies, making the Byakugan unusable after Hizashi's death. Hinata is always protected by at least three branch members of the clan as well as accompanied by her pregnant mother. The Hyūga Clan is widely known for their Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, and their deadly taijutsu style, the Jūken

Aiko's third friend was the little brother of none other than Naruto's and Kimiko's teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke doesn't just love his brother… he absolutely admires him thinking he is the most powerful shinobi in Konoha. Sasuke never believed when Itachi said that Naruto was more skilled in the use of the Sharingan than he was and that Kimiko was better in taijutsu than him. Taijutsu never really was Itachi's strength. His pacifist beliefs coupled perfectly together with his natural aptitude for genjutsu. He was mostly in the company of his mother and brother and rarely his father, Uchiha Fugaku. The Uchiha Clan is known for their Kekkei Genkai, called the Sharingan, and it is told that they are the descendants of the Rikudō Sennin.

Her next friend was the Aburame Clan heir, Aburame Shino. He was the quietest of the bunch, as are all Aburame's. He thinks logically and rarely shows emotion. This doesn't mean he doesn't feel them, he's just good at hiding them. His Clan is mostly looked at weirdly by the civilian population of the village. After all, it is not often for a civilian to see a person with bugs inhabiting their body. His company consists of only his father, Aburame Shibi. They specialize in long range fights using their kikaichū.

Next, was the heir of the Clan of Laziness and ingeniousness, the Nara Clan. His name was Nara Shikamaru and was easily the laziest person alive. His hobby is watching clouds… that's it. Still, he has an IQ over 200 and could easily evolve into the best strategist Konoha ever had, after his father, Nara Shikaku stepped down from that position though. He is mostly accompanied by his mother, Nara Yoshino. The Nara Clan are known for their shadow-style hidenjutsu as well as their infamous teamwork with the Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans, creating the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Speaking of the Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans, the Akimichi clan heir, Akimichi Chōji, and the Yamanaka clan heiress, Yamanaka Ino, were more often than not seen in the company of the Nara heir, since their fathers are close friends. Chōji liked to eat a little… and stretch that little to the size of the Hokage monument. The Akimichi Clan's hidenjutsu allowed the user to increase their size using their strong Yang chakra and literally beat or roll an enemy to death. Unfortunately, this massive usage of Yang chakra causes the Akimichi's clan members to be forced to eat extensively to replenish their lost energy. His father, Akimichi Chōza mostly comes with Chōji to meet with his friends, Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi.

Meanwhile, the Yamanaka heiress doesn't like the attitude of either being quite lively and loving gossip. Her best friend Haruno Sakura and her shared gossip most of the time. The Yamanaka clan's hidenjutsu is quite special. After all, it's quite rare to see a shinobi literally enter the enemies mind and control them from within. Unluckily more often than not that leaves the body of the Yamanaka completely defenseless since their consciousness quite literally leaves their body and enter the target's body.

She couldn't wait anymore and ran over to her friends. Everyone noticed her and chuckled when they saw the Hokage and his family dust themselves off in the background. They all congratulated her on her fifth birthday and she readily accepted the congratulations. And so began the festivities of the day, mostly with the adults talking among themselves, while the children were playing ninja with their academy student and genin counterparts…

* * *

 **Author note: Sorry for the long wait but university has started again after the holidays so I'm a bit busier. Also, the exam period will soon start so I'll be forced to delay the posting of the next chapters a little. For what it's worth I hope it's not that big of a problem. Thank you for all your support and feel free to still post ideas for Rinnegan abilities! I'm always happy to read reviews, so if it's not too much of a hassle I would be grateful if you would review my fanfiction. Thank you and till the next time!**

* * *

" **Shiki Fūjin** " = " **Dead Demon Consuming Seal** "

" **Hakke no Fūin Shiki** " = " **Eight Trigrams Sealing Style** "

" **Cha no Kuni** " = " **Land of Tea** "

" **Shinobi no Kami** " = " **God of Shinobi** "

" **Hiraishin no Jutsu** " = " **Flying Thunder God Technique** "

" **Ninken** " = " **Ninja Hounds** "

" **Kago no Tori no Juin** " = " **Caged Bird Curse Seal** "

" **Kikaichū** " = " **Parasitic Insects** "


	5. Chūnin Exams: Part I

**Chapter 5**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OCs I create. Have you ever noticed that on Rock Lee's hair the word "NINJA" is written? I guess that's the effect the 'Flames of Youth' have on such a youthful body! And if it isn't the effect of the 'Flames of Youth' I shall run around my hometown 1000 times on my hands!**

 **Edit: The poll should be shown on my profile now. Sorry for my mistake! I may or may not have forgotten to click "Show poll on profile"... :D**

* * *

 **One month later, November 10th**

Following the rather eventful day that was Aiko's birthday, Team 2 returned to their training. This one month of training was harder and more intense than usual as noticed by all the genin members of Team 2. And they all had and knew as to why they trained way harder. Soon the autumn/winter exam of the bi-annual chūnin exams would begin and they were hyped for it. They knew they would be entered since Kimiko accidentally overheard a conversation between her mother and father if they should allow their children to attend this year's chūnin exams already. While Kushina wanted her children to go since she knew they would easily win the exam, Minato was a bit more rational and weighed all the options. Meanwhile, Kimiko was praying to whatever gods, deities, or divines are up there to let Team 2 participate.

Just as she finished her first ever prayer she heard her mother bring up an argument that ended up convincing her father rather quickly, "If you don't let them enter the chūnin exams I'll beat you to a pulp and share all these cute baby photos with the whole village. The chūnin exams are far too much of a good experience for them not to participate as early as possible.", Kushina said as her hair began to sway behind her menacingly while saying the first part of the threat. When she began the second part of the threat her hair immediately went back to its normal state and she wore a sweet smile… too sweet of a smile. She was also holding up photos of a baby Minato where he was in diapers and a pacifier in his mouth, saliva running down the corner of his mouth.

In a speed that did his moniker 'Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō' all honor, he accepted to enlist Team 2 to the chūnin exams. When Kimiko heard this she ran to gather her brother and their teammate to tell them about this. She was screaming in joy inside thanking all the gods above for granting her wish.

When she told her brother and Itachi she got the expected reactions from both of them. Her brother was as ecstatic as her although a bit more reserved, while Itachi reacted like… well Itachi, pretty much no reaction at all. Unless you knew him like Naruto and Kimiko or carried a magnifying glass around with you.

Adapting to this knowledge they threw themselves into training even harder, training until they fell over from exhaustion. In the single month, they all were taught multiple jutsu to compliment their fighting abilities and their teamwork capabilities. For training in her Kekkei Genkai, Kimiko was granted access to the Senju Clan library as well as the Mokuton ninjutsu scrolls left behind by Senju Hashirama. She was personally allowed to use her Kekkei Genkai in the chūnin exams due to spies from other villages most likely already knowing about it. She was even encouraged to use it since the return of this famous Kekkei Genkai would surely bring in new clients from all over the Elemental Nations.

They also began to master their element to level two. To master his fire element, Itachi had to completely evaporate large quantities of water in mere seconds. When that is done and one feels he can still improve their control over the fire element, one can try to melt a boulder away in one go, i.e. in one application of chakra.

While Naruto also had a fire affinity he told himself to first master his wind affinity for better combo attacks with Itachi and Kimiko as well as to apply the wind chakra to kunai and weaponry in general. To master his wind affinity on the next level he had to cut a waterfall in the middle with just his chakra. Due to his and Kimiko's 'special' training conditions they didn't train at their usual training ground, rather at one with two waterfalls and lake beneath it for Kimiko.

Speaking of Kimiko she first concentrated on mastering her water affinity to the fullest. The offensive and defensive abilities of the water element would be incredibly useful in the chūnin exams. Her task was to turn the stream of the other waterfall, basically making it a waterfall that flows upwards not downwards.

But that was not all they did during the month. They were also introduced to the art of the sword, namely kenjutsu. They got an explanation why kenjutsu was so useful universally, with your increased range and added lethality of the blade you got an edge against anybody who doesn't have a sword himself. They were shown the different types of blades, reaching from tantōs to katanas. They got to choose which blade they preferred to use or what would be suiting them in combat. Itachi chose a tantō, Kimiko chose a katana, and Naruto chose a chokutō. But since Mikoto wasn't really adept in using kenjutsu, rather using taijutsu, they got a new teacher to teach them kenjutsu, Uzumaki Kushina.

Like many Uzumaki, Kushina was introduced to kenjutsu about as early as she was to fūinjutsu. She has mastered all blade types: the tantō, the chokutō, the katana, the nodachi, and the wakizashi. She has also at least one style for each blade type. She knew most of the ANBU styles of these swords, except for the katana. In conjunction with a katana, Kushina had her own style, which was a variation of the kenjutsu style that was taught in Uzushiogakure. It consisted of swift precise strikes in form of stabs while dancing around the enemy to confuse the enemy due to the constant circling around himself. It is quite the opportunistic style searching for openings in the enemies guard while blocking and deflecting all incoming strikes.

While Naruto and Itachi had moderate progress in their styles, Kimiko absolutely aced the training with her katana. Her katana was made of chakra conducting metal, was about 25 inches long, and had a black handle with a red and white cloth wrapped around it.

Naruto's custom made chokutō was also made out of chakra conducting metal, as should be every shinobi used blade, and was about 18 inches long. The handle was wrapped in a red cloth while the cross adorned several magatamas.

What both twins had in common with their blades was the absence of sheaths. They didn't require sheaths due to arm guards, provided by their father, on which where storage seals inscribed used for storing weaponry and to quickly access weapons in battle.

Itachi's tantō was actually nothing special. Itachi didn't care about the looks of his blade just about its functionality so he has chosen a standard tipless ANBU tantō.

They got so far that they could at least use their blade in a fight to a sufficient level. In their free time, Naruto and Kimiko also decided to teach Aiko a bit chakra control. After all, a jinchūriki, especially the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi as well as an Uzumaki should always train chakra control. Their ungodly amounts of chakra would be increasingly harder to control the later you begin to train in chakra control.

Lastly, Itachi finally managed to evolve his Sharingan further entering its two tomoe state. That happened during a rather eventful spar in kenjutsu with Kushina, in which she was quite frustrated at the constantly emotionless face of Itachi that she forgot she was fighting a genin and tried to pummel him. Itachi naturally had to dodge but the strikes were too fast for his one tomoe Sharingan. So to keep himself from being hit, forced his Sharingan to mature further.

So now we find Team 2 on their usual training ground in front of their sensei, Uchiha Mikoto, "Well done you three! You have progressed quite well in the past month. And in the way, you threw yourself into training, I can only guess you somehow got wind that you will be entered into the chūnin exams, am I right?"

Seeing the three nod, Mikoto smiled, proud of her team's growth, she continued, "So without further ado, here are the registration forms needed to enter the exams. Fill them out and remember to take them with you when we depart! Without you won't be allowed into the exams nor the village! This year's chūnin exams will be in, Kusagakure no Sato! The exam begins in one week sharp, thus we will start our walk there tomorrow. It is your choice: do you want to move at shinobi speeds or at civilian speed? I'm fine with both, your decision. But keep in mind that traveling in civilian pace means that we would be walking for approximately five days, while with shinobi speeds it would only take about a day."

The three genin rounded together to discuss this, trying to exclude Mikoto from hearing their conversation, to make their decision a surprise but a little bit of channeled chakra in the ears and suddenly it's as if they were talking directly to her, "Guys, what do you think? I'm for a shinobi pace! It would be boring to walk five literal days."

"Hmm, you do have an argument there. Also, we wouldn't be exhausted from the shinobi pace since we would still have about three days to rest and perhaps check out Kusagakure a bit.", said Kimiko while wondering if Kusagakure had hot springs, "Itachi, what's your opinion?"

"I'm for shinobi pace as well. It would be illogical to travel at a civilian speed. We could be attacked on our way there by bandits or by the local fauna. I've heard that Kusa no Kuni has a fauna similar to the one in the Forest of Death.", said Itachi stating his opinion.

With that their decision was final, they would travel at shinobi speeds, "Mikoto-sensei, we decided to travel at shinobi speeds.", told Kimiko their sensei.

"Very well. We shall start tomorrow at 8 am sharp. Don't forget anything! Bring weapons, clothes, rations, and so on and so forth.", informed Mikoto her team before dismissing them and motioning for Itachi to accompany her to the Uchiha Clan compound.

"Come Nee-chan. We spent the rest of the day with Aiko and pack in the evening.", said Naruto and turned to leave the training ground in the direction of their clan compound with Kimiko following shortly after.

For the next two hours, they calmed down Aiko and explaining that she will see them once the third part of the exam starts. Aiko seemed to accept that fact, although only after two hours of constant bickering and bribing her with mochi ice cream.

* * *

 **Next day**

"Okay, Team 2! At the pace we will be going we'll arrive in approximately 18 hours in Kusagakure no Sato, that is if we don't take any breaks. Thus we will take a little bit more than a day to arrive there. We'll be doing a few breaks along the way, including a sleeping break although that particular break will only last two hours at the most. Say your goodbyes to everyone.", said Mikoto. The genin turned around to see their families standing at the gate wishing them good luck.

Naruto and Kimiko went towards their parents both hugging them simultaneously for a few seconds while Minato and Kushina just ruffled their hair. When they were done with that they said goodbye to their little sister, who proceeded to somehow manage physical strength a five-year-old should not have, almost crushing both Naruto and Kimiko to death, or at least to the point where their faces turned blue. Kushina and Minato just laughed it off, feeling the intense sisterly/brotherly love between their children.

Itachi's goodbye was… calmer. He first bowed to his father who told him how proud he is of him. Itachi then turned to his little brother Sasuke and playfully poked his brother's forehead with his index and middle finger. He didn't need to say goodbye to his mother since… well, she is their sensei and travels with them so… yeah, unnecessary.

After finishing their farewells they turned back to Mikoto and nodded. They then sped off from the west gate of Konohagakure no Sato to formally join the chūnin exams in Kusagakure no Sato.

* * *

 **Six days later**

"Come Itachi, Nii-san! We will still have to find room 302. If you don't speed up we'll be late even though we're about two hours early right now! Mikoto-sensei please help me a bit.", whined Kimiko while Naruto and Mikoto chuckled at Kimiko's antics. Even Itachi managed one of his millimeter smiles.

"Don't worry Nee-chan. The academy is just around the corner, we don't have to hurry.", replied Naruto enjoying the warm weather of Kusagakure. Kusagakure's weather was a bit warmer than Konoha's but about ten times more humid. The reason for that is the jungle around Kusagakure literally hiding it in the midst of the jungle. It's a miracle they didn't call Kusagakure, Jangurugakure no Sato.

A few minutes later they arrived at the academy where Mikoto bid them farewell telling them that she would see them after the second exam. They all nodded, already being introduced in how the chūnin exams work. There are always three exams and only the third exam is always the same: a tournament between all those who passed the second exam.

Team 2 walked around the academy's third floor after concluding that room 302 would logically be on the third floor. They quickly found it and sat down in one of the rows in the back to get the best possible outlook at all the competing teams.

They sat there for what felt like hours, which was actually only one hour when finally other teams began to fill into the room. They were mostly unimpressive looking teams from the smaller shinobi villages like Kusagakure itself, Takigakure, and Amegakure. The first 'real' team they saw was a team from Iwagakure no Sato. It consisted of two male members and one female.

The first male had slanted blue eyes and long golden blonde hair which he wore in a half ponytail with the rest of the hair covering his left eye. He looked to be about average height for his age, which was surprisingly close to Team 2's age. He wore a grey and blue kimono jacket with a fishnet under-shirt inside and khaki pants with sandals, as well as two belt-like hip pouches fastened to the belt with chains on either side of his hip. Interestingly enough he had two mouths in his hands, giving him a handsome look… if you don't see the mouths in his hands then he is, for a lack of a better word… unique. Lastly, he wore his Iwagakure forehead protector, with brown cloth, on his forehead with half of it covered by his hair.

The second male was the tallest of the team easily towering over them. He was at least a feet or two taller than the other two. He also looked to be a few years older than the other two. He had black eyes and black hair which spiked out at the end of his bandanna-styled forehead protector, with red cloth. He had large cheeks, and a plump nose, giving him a surprisingly constant look of joviality. It was surprising considering that Iwagakure shinobi were known to be always stoic and follow orders without question. He looked like he couldn't even hurt a fly. His outfit consisted of a green, bordering brown, flak jacket with the standard Iwagakure uniform beneath. He finished his outfit by loosely wrapping a yellow scarf around his neck.

The last member of the team and the only female was only slightly smaller than the first, an inch at the most. She looked a little younger than the first as well. She had short black hair and distinctly pink eyes which were accentuated by her eyelashes running upwards at the corners. She also wore the standard attire for Iwagakure shinobi consisting of a red uniform with her right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg, fishnet tights, and a skirt over them. Additionally, she wore standard shinobi sandals and a pair of gloves.

They sat down in the front seat conversing with each other while the one with the mouths in the hands seemed to be forming different animals from clay and showing them to his teammates loudly proclaiming the greatness of his 'art'.

After another hour only two other teams kinda stood out one being a team from Suna. Somehow this team didn't take the memo at the academy ' _Never show your weapons to your enemy openly… unless you're Uchiha Madara… then you are allowed to do that_ '. One of the oafs carried his five-foot-long fan around showing everyone around that he was a fūton user.

The next oaf had a large bandaged… something on his back. Everyone who knew a little bit about Sunagakure immediately knew that it was a puppet user. After the success of Akasuna no Sasori during the Daisanji Ninkai Taisen it seemed as if a lot of genin thought they could become just as famous as him. They seemingly forgot that Sasori got that moniker following his slaughtering of his enemies literally staining the sand red with blood. But apparently, the didn't care about the casualties caused by him… not that Sasori himself cared about that.

The last of the Suna team at least hid his weapon. The only visible accessory was a small pouch at the side of his hip. But the most irritating thing about all three of them was the aura of arrogance around them. Hell, you could practically see the arrogant smirks on their faces while looking at the back of their head.

The last team that was kinda interesting was from Amegakure surprisingly. They all looked kinda monotone. All three of them wore their forehead protector on their forehead. All three of them had a cloth around their eyes, where one had both eyes covered, one had one eye covered by the cloth, and the last had no eyes covered by the cloth. All three of them wore some jacket that looked like a straightjacket and oxygen masks. They also arrogantly declared how ' _Team Oboro will win the chūnin exams!_ '... they argued with the Suna team about who will win until the proctor luckily arrived.

Speaking of the proctor she looked to be around the age of 20. She wore the standard Kusagakure shinobi attire consisting of a green kimono jacket with a fishnet shirt beneath it. The kimono jacket was held together by a light-grey rope. She also wore dark grey pants and standard shinobi sandals. She had black hair and eyes with a small downwards scar over the left side of her lips. At first, she smiled kindly and asked everyone to be quiet. After that didn't work her eyebrow started to twitch a little in annoyance. She tried the kind approach once more, being disappointed even more, except for Team 2 and the Iwa team who heard her. Smiling at both teams she motioned for them to hold their ears closed. All of them did just that and she cleared her throat and channeled chakra into her throat to raise the volume of her voice, "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU IMBECILES! THE EXAM IS ABOUT TO START SO SHUT UP AND LISTEN!"

And just like that, the whole room was quiet. She sighed, "My name is Doku Chimi, and I'm the proctor of these year's chūnin exams through part one to three. We shall immediately start with the first exam. I will explain it first and if you have questions please state them afterwards.", she looked around to look if someone did not pay attention. Seeing everyone paying attention she continued, "The first exam will test your capabilities to gather information and your stealth skills. Around the village are thirty chūnin who have been told the location of the true room of the first exam. They're tasked to walk around the village like they went after their normal life but they keep their guard up to catch those whose stealth skills are bad. They also are obliged to talk about the location at least once every few minutes. The academy is a kind of safe haven, as long as you're in the academy, no chūnin is allowed to disqualify you. But as soon as you leave the academy you will be vulnerable for disqualification. Once caught you're immediately disqualified and are bound to leave the village until 8 am of the next morning. For this part of the exam, you have one hour! Understood?"

Seeing no raised hands, indicating no questions, she smiled and raised her hand, "On my count the exam starts! Alright. Ready, steady, BEGIN!"

All genin filed out of the room as quickly as possible including Team 2 who promptly jumped out of the window to find a chūnin that looks like he would have information regarding the location of the exam room. They looked around for about ten minutes until they saw a chūnin who looked suspicious. Said chūnin looked pretty nervous and frantically looked around, although he tried his best to hide those feelings, the superior eyesight of both Naruto and Itachi easily saw his nervousness. They stuck to the shadow and went as close as possible. They saw him approaching a shopkeeper with who he began a conversation.

Naruto and Itachi quickly activated their Sharingan and proceeded to read the chūnin's lips. While reading his lips Naruto simultaneously whispered out the chūnin's words, "You know this chūnin exam makes me really anxious. What if I mess up and one of those genins sneak up on me or something. Creepy… also what if I mess up and all genins pass because they heard me say the location of the exam room. Oh yeah, that reminds me, did you know that the exam room is located in the basement of the academy in its right wing? The room number is 002. See ya I guess.", finished the chūnin leaving behind a confused civilian whose look on his face clearly showed ' _What the hell just happened? Is that guy drunk or something?_ '

Having all the information they needed they jumped atop the rooftops on their way back to the academy, still stealthily since chūnin still could catch them and disqualify them. Slowly but surely they made their way towards the academy. On their way, they spotted the Iwa team also moving in the direction of the academy. They looked at each other for a few moments until both teams decided to focus on the task. They also saw quite a lot of genins being caught by the chūnin they were tailing. One of the failures made Team 2 snicker a little. It involved one of the Ame genin of Team Oboro to slip on a roof tile falling and landing right in front of a chūnin who immediately disqualifies the whole Team Oboro. Kimiko whispered sarcastically, barely holding back her laughter, "'Team Oboro will definitely win this exam and become chūnin!'."

They sneaked around Kusagakure for a few more minutes until they finally entered the academy and dropped their stealth. They searched for a staircase downstairs and after a minute or so they finally found a staircase leading into the cellar. They entered the basement and noticed its dim lighting. The lighting was actually so weak it was hard to make out faces. Well, that wasn't a problem for Naruto and Itachi, as the Sharingan also grants a kind of night vision. Naruto took his sister by the hand and led her through the maze-like built basement. If someone saw Team 2 right now from the distance, they would only see two menacing looking Sharingan stare back at them. One pair adorned with three tomoes, the other with two tomoes.

They finally found room 002 in the maze-like basement and entered it. The room was like the other academy rooms with the exception that there were no big windows at one side but rather small windows almost at the ceiling. They looked around and saw that they were, in fact, the first team to arrive. They sat down in the back again and didn't need to wait more than three seconds for the next team to arrive, which was, in fact, the Iwa team that followed them through the basement since they didn't have the magical eyes that could see in the dark and copy someone's movements.

They waited for the rest of the exam, which were quite the boring one and a half hours, and only thirteen more teams arrived in the room. Among them were the Suna team, three Taki teams, and nine Kusa teams. In total, of 80 entered teams only 15 teams passed the first exam.

As soon as the bell rang, Doku Chimi shunshinned into the room, "Oh, only 15 teams left. That went better than I thought. I expected at least 30 teams or so to pass this exam but it doesn't matter the less the better.", exclaimed Chimi rather happily, "For the next part of the exam… you'll all be first given a choice… the choice to take this exam or not."

"Why do we have a choice to take the exam or not?", asked the blonde Iwagakure genin.

"That's an excellent question my little genin. You all have a choice to take the exam or not because in the next part of the exam there will be casualties, death, and such! You have five minutes to either take the next part or not. If you don't want to risk your life you are to leave now! For those who still want to participate, you all have to sign these forms that declare me and Kusagakure not responsible should you die! Only those who have signed are allowed to take part in the next part of the exam.", declared Chimi suddenly seriously while holding out the forms.

The genin all gulped and grouped together in their teams to discuss the matter. Team 2's discussion about the matter took whole ten seconds were Kimiko, then Naruto, then Itachi all stated that they want to take this part. They stood up walked to the desk in the front and signed three of the forms. They bowed to the proctor who was smiling at them and returned to their place. The Iwa team shortly followed, then the Suna team, the three Taki teams also accepted, as well as five Kusa teams. Four of the Kusa teams decided to not risk their lives in this exam and wait for an exam where there is no death involved. Unlucky for them that all chūnin exams involve death in some way.

Once all teams either signed the forms or left Chimi clapped her hands together happily, "Well done. This part is a survival test! Now to take part in the next stage you'll all be knocked out, taken by your jōnin sensei, and left in the jungle surrounding the village. Your teams are all given specific locations to prevent favoritism in the exam. Your goal is to find your way back to Kusagakure while also searching for one of four scrolls that are hidden within a radius of ten kilometers around the village. They jungles surrounding our village are filled with giant insects, arachnids, and mammals. Additionally, food and water are scarce and many plants are poisonous. As such be careful of what you eat! To pass this stage you have to arrive at the village gates in five days at the very latest. You also have to be in possession of one scroll as well as a complete team. Your whole team must arrive with you. If one of your team dies you're disqualified. Any questions? No? Good!", she quickly put on a gas mask to not succumb to the drug's effects as well.

Before the genin even had the possibility to ask a question, a pinkish looking smoke started to leak in from the ventilation system. One after another they fell like flies enjoying their dreams. Team 2 wasn't spared the effects of the drug either and succumbed to unconsciousness. Once the proctor was sure all of them were knocked out, she activated the ventilation system once more and took off her gas mask. She flared her chakra for a few seconds and the jōnin sensei's of the teams filled the room and took their teams with them. They were given a map to find the spot where they should leave their teams.

Mikoto looked down at her soundly sleeping genin and thought only one thing, ' _I'm proud of all of you!_ '...

* * *

 **Author note: In conjunction with the release of this chapter, I will open a poll determining the pairing in this fanfiction. I already mentioned in the summary that it'll be an OC but there are two major choices of clan affiliation of this OC:**

 **Naruto x Female Kaguya Clan member**

 **Naruto x Female Uchiha Clan member**

 **You're also free to suggest other pairings (must still be OC) in reviews! The poll will be open until the release of the sixth chapter.**

 **Thank you for your support and see ya in the next chapter. Bye!**

* * *

" **Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō** " = " **Konoha's Yellow Flash** "

" **Uzushiogakure no Sato** " = " **Village Hidden in the Whirling Tide** "

" **Kusagakure no Sato** " = " **Village Hidden in the Grass** "

" **Kusa no Kuni** " = " **Land of Grass** "

" **Jangurugakure no Sato** " = " **Village Hidden in the Jungle** "

" **Akasuna no Sasori** " = " **Sasori of the Red Sands** "

" **Daisanji Ninkai Taisen** " = " **Third Shinobi World War** "


	6. Chūnin Exams: Part II

**Chapter 6**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OCs I create. What if Sasuke secretly liked the first kiss, he had with Naruto, and only wanted to kill Sakura so she wasn't in the way of his "developing relationship" with Naruto? Creepy...**

* * *

 **A few hours later**

"Ow… my head hurts…", said Naruto as he regained his consciousness. He sat up and looked around. He was in a cave not far away from the entrance, ' _We should get going or otherwise, we're not going to get a scroll… wait... WE? Where are Nee-chan and Itachi?_ ', thought Naruto while for the first time since waking up taking in his surroundings. He looked around and saw both his teammates not so far from him.

He stood up and dusted himself off before going to wake up his teammates. Well waking up Itachi was easy, due to his stoic behavior Itachi has it easy to wake up and not feel tired. Kimiko was another problem…

"No Kaa-chan only five minutes more…", mumbled Kimiko while hugging her "stuffed toy" which happened to be Itachi's left arm. When Itachi noticed that he couldn't move his left arm and saw Kimiko hugging it to death, he could only look up at Naruto with a look that said one thing ' _Help, please…_ '

After biting back a laugh at Itachi's predicament Naruto decided to finally help him, "Kimiko if you don't wake up we're going to fail the chūnin exams…", in the fraction of a second Kimiko stood in front of them like a candle. The only disadvantage of that sudden movement was that it almost dislocated Itachi's left shoulder. Vene on his eternally stoic face there was a slight emotion of pain visible, showing that it actually hurt like a damn bitch.

"Then what are we waiting for let's go!", shouted Kimiko while pointing at the entrance. Naruto and Itachi just sweatdropped and thought, ' _Is she/my sister bipolar…?_ '

They sighed almost simultaneously and followed their female teammate outside of the cave. The cave entrance was in a little clearing of the jungle making it possible to see the sun. If they were inside the jungle, the leaves would block out almost all the sunlight making it nigh impossible to see. Looking at the sun they concluded that it was merely two hours after noon.

"As far as I remember our task was to find one out of four scrolls and deliver it back to Kusagakure in five days at the latest, right?", asked Naruto getting a nod from Itachi, he continued, what supplies do we have?"

They rummaged through their bags and pockets and laid out their equipment. "I have fifty shurikens, thirty kunai, two rolls of ninja wire, two flash bombs, two smoke bombs, five exploding tags, my chokutō, a first-aid kit, a sleeping bag, five ration bars, and three bottles of water.", stated Naruto.

"I have seventy shurikens, only ten kunai, one roll of ninja wire, four flash bombs, three smoke bombs, three exploding tags, my katana, three first-aid kits, a sleeping bag, five ration bars, and finally two bottles of water.", said Kimiko.

"I've got sixty shurikens, fifty kunai, three rolls of ninja wire, one flash bomb, three smoke bombs, ten exploding tags, my tantō, one first-aid kit, a sleeping bag, five ration bars, and three bottles of water.", finished Itachi.

" So in total, we got 180 shurikens, 90 kunai, 6 rolls of ninja wire, 7 flash bombs, 8 smoke bombs, 18 exploding tags, our personal weapons, 5 first-aid kits, 3 sleeping bags, 15 ration bars, and lastly 8 bottles of water, right?", asked Naruto to make sure he got the maths right.

"That's about it, yeah.", answered Kimiko, and she immediately continued, "so, where are we heading to find a scroll?"

"Nee-chan don't tell me you already forgot what I asked of you once the proctor first entered the room…", said Naruto

* * *

 **Flashback, shortly before the start of the first exam**

 _While all the teams were talking Naruto asked Kimiko silently to sense when the proctor comes. After five minutes of concentration, she finally whispered back, "Here she comes!"_

 _And true to her word only a few seconds later the proctor arrived via shunshin in front of the gathered teams. But while she was politely asking the teams that weren't quiet yet to 'shut the fuck up', Naruto whispered to his sister something that should help them, "Nee-chan, keep her chakra signature in your mind. It may become useful later on."_

 _Seeing no problem in that she concentrated a few seconds to memorize the chakra signature of the proctor, "Alright done! I've completely memorized her chakra signature!", whispered Kimiko back._

" _Good, then we can listen to what the proctor has to say.", whispered Naruto back, just as the proctor began to introduce herself..._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

"Ohh, now I remember… but you may want to explain to me as to why I should sense her chakra.", half-asked and half-stated Kimiko kinda confused. How would sensing the chakra of the proctor help them in finding a scroll?

Naruto sighed when he saw the amused look on Itachi's face. He was so close to bopping him on the head but he restrained himself from doing that and scheduled it away for later. He started to explain it to his sister, "Well it is to guess that the proctor herself placed the scrolls in places in the jungle. As such the scrolls will have a little remainder of her chakra, that you can sense. Additionally, since we don't know in which direction Kusagakure is, you can sense her chakra in the village directing us in the correct direction."

A look of realization dawned upon Kimiko's face and she muttered out her intelligent answer, "Ahhh… you're so smart Nii-san!", stated Kimiko with a large grin that was reflected back to her by her brother. When they stopped Kimiko sat down on the ground in a lotus position and extended her sense as far as she could which would be about 10 kilometers in each direction.

She sensed around a few minutes until finding one of the scrolls, "Got one! It isn't so far away, only about a kilometer to the north. The only problem is that there is already a team heading there. By the way, Kusagakure is about six kilometers to our west."

Naruto and Itachi pondered about for a minute or so before bringing together their thought, "So we're in the eastern part of the exam grounds. And there is a scroll nearby but there is a large possibility of a fight… Well, we don't have anything to lose, except the exam, so I think we should get the scroll, preferably before the other team arrives so we can set up an ambush.", summarized Itachi with Naruto and Kimiko nodding.

Naruto turned to Kimiko, "How far away are they from the scroll?"

"About three kilometers. Their speed is not so impressive about average genin level.", stated Kimiko.

"Alright, let's get there before them and map out the area as well as lay an ambush, correct?", asked Naruto his team and received two nods, confirming his plan.

With that said they took off north to get a scroll and take out some competition. With their current level of speed, they got there fairly quickly and had about ten minutes until the other team arrived. They planted four exploding tags on trees and concealed them with their chakra. The plan was to gather the three teammates in one place to take them out in one sweep. They also found the scroll and noticed that they would have to find a way to overcome an obstacle to get to the scroll.

A few more minutes of waiting and Kimiko gave them the hand sign ' _Enemy inbound_ '. True to her statement only ten seconds later the enemy team passed beneath them, right into their trap. Forming half a ram seal, Naruto detonated the exploding tags. Due to the sudden explosion taking place the genin team, now identified as a Kusa team, jumped down into the clearing, standing back to back in a kind of triangle formation. They looked around to find out who attacked them and surely Team 2 emerged from the treeline, "Turn away this is our scroll!", said one of the Kusa genin arrogantly.

"We give you the same warning. Turn back and you may have a chance to pass the exam with another scroll.", countered Naruto, "but if you don't we will not hesitate to use force to make you leave."

"As if you could. We'll show you our superiority!", shouted one of Kusa genin back and all three of them took out a kunai.

Naruto sighed, "Very well then… we shall retaliate with force!", he, Itachi, and Kimiko all channeled chakra into their wristguards, and out came their chokutō, tantō, and katana respectively.

Team 2 was about to charge forward, when one Kusa genin took a deep breath and shouted, " **Dokugiri** " while spewing out a deep purple smoke. Quickly covering their mouths and nose with their free hand, to not inhale the poisonous gas, they jumped out of the poison cloud.

The gas covered the whole clearing including the Kusa genin, indicating their immunity towards at least this poison. Not wanting them to get an advantage Naruto went through hand seals, Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake, " **Fūton: Daitoppa** ". With a strong gust of wind, the cloud of poisonous gas was blown away into the forest, replacing it with a cloud of dust that slowly settled down again.

Seeing that their poison gas didn't do the trick the Kusa genin tried to engage them in taijutsu. That idea was cut short when they charged and got cut multiple times due to forgetting that they wielded longer blades than their standard kunai. Trying to think of a solution, they regrouped at the other end of the clearing at least fifteen meters apart from Team 2.

Not wanting them to come up with a plan, Naruto quickly created a shadow clone and went through a chain of hand seals together with Itachi, Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger, both shouting out simultaneously " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** ". Meanwhile, Naruto's clone went through the hand seals to perform the " **Fūton: Daitoppa** " once again to power up both fireballs.

Powered up with the fūton jutsu the two white, hot fireballs closed in on their target, the Kusa genin team. Seeing the fireballs coming in they jumped to the sides, one to the right and the other two to the left, effectively dodging the fireballs. Once landing they looked at Team 2 again and noticed the female missing. Just then a hand shot out of the ground grabbing the alone shinobi's ankle and pulling him underground until only his head remained seen. '' _ **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu**_ ' _has quite the potential for such tactics.'_ , thought Kimiko after knocking out the trapped Kusa genin with a quick chop to the neck and jumping back to her team acrobatically.

Now with one of their teammates out of the Kusa genin were at a serious disadvantage but they wouldn't give up, never. One of them pulled back his sleeve, revealing a wrist-mounted senbon launcher, loaded with poisoned senbon needles. He triggered the mechanism, firing off two dozens of poisoned senbon at Team 2. Reacting accordingly Kimiko took a few steps back while Naruto and Itachi both activated their Sharingan. They readied their blades and skillfully registered every fired senbon and deflected them away from themselves, a few even flying back to the genin who shot them in the first place, making him jump away to dodge.

Having heard of the Sharingan, the Kusa genin averted their sight to not meet the gaze of the Sharingan wielders. Seeing this Kimiko made them pay for that mistake by the Tiger hand seal and shouting, " **Suiton: Teppōdama** ". Her cheeks puffed out and she spewed out a condensed blast of water at her opponent hitting the senbon launcher guy straight in the chest knocking the air out of him and launching him back where he collided with a tree and finally lost consciousness.

Seeing that he now was alone against three others he took out three kunai, which were surprisingly not poisoned, quickly attached exploding tags to them and launched them at Team 2. Knowing that she was to block the exploding tags, Kimiko went through a chain of hand seals, Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog, and shouting out, " **Doton: Doryūheki** ".

A three-meter tall mud wall emerged from the ground and blocked the exploding tags, which detonated at the contact the mud wall. After the explosion took place, the mud wall sank back into the ground, the smoke from the explosion was blown away by a random gust of wind. When the smoke was completely gone they saw the Kusa genin trying to get his teammate out of the ground but ultimately failed at that. Naruto quickly sped off and placed his chokutō at the Kusa genins throat. He fearfully looked up to see those menacing looking crimson orbs and suddenly felt really sleepy. Only then he noticed that he looked Naruto in the eyes and fell prey to a sleep-inducing genjutsu. He fell to the side right next to his teammate.

Team 2 released a sigh of relief, happy how the way the fight went, winning without harming your enemy. They pulled the one genin out of the ground and placed all three together next to each other. They then proceeded to tie the three of them up with some ninja wire and took some of their supplies, mostly water. They all ate and drank a bit to replenish their energy, after all, they used a few jutsu in that fight, and their young bodies aren't so well accustomed to real fights yet. Even though Naruto's and Kimiko's chakra reserves are large for their age, yet not even comparable to Aiko's chakra reserves who are already larger than both of theirs, their bodies aren't grown yet so they can't fight at their full potential.

After their small break, they turned their attention to get the scroll to pass this exam. The scroll was visible in the trunk of a tree. After closer inspection of the tree, they noticed it was at least as hard if not harder than steel. They brainstormed on how to get the scroll free from its prison. The first thought was to use the ' **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** ' and burn away the tree. That idea was quickly discarded after remembering while the tree might burn away from the heat of the flames, so will the scroll making it unusable. As such all ideas including fire or attacks that cause a great deal of damage were excluded and discarded.

The next idea was for Kimiko to uproot the tree with a doton jutsu and to make the scroll fall out of the tree as it didn't look to be too tightly tied to the insides of the trunk. After uprooting the tree they hoped for the scroll to just fall out. Seeing that nothing was falling out the looked inside the trunk, at least as far as they could. The scroll didn't budge from its place. Returning the tree to its original state they continued to think up ideas. More and more ideas came and went. Everything they tried miserably failed and slowly but surely it was getting dark so Kimiko made a little makeshift shack with a doton jutsu in which they could sleep in.

They set up guarding shifts to make sure no one dared to attack them while sleeping as well as to prevent another team to take the scroll while they were asleep, with Itachi taking up the first, Naruto the second, and Kimiko the last. Once they made themselves cozy in their sleeping bags, Naruto and Kimiko fell asleep fairly quickly leaving Itachi alone to look at a tree, three knocked out genin and the night sky which was utterly beautiful at that moment. The stars were clearly to see and a full moon rose up high into the sky. Releasing a soft sigh Itachi looked up at the night sky marveling in its beauty.

* * *

 **Next morning**

During her guarding shift, Kimiko thought about how to get to the scroll without destroying it and she got an idea. If she can create trees and then control those trees, can she control already existing trees? She decided to test it out when everyone was up and going. Speaking of which Kimiko noticed that it should be around 8 am right around now so she should get her brother and friend to get up. During her shift, the Kusa genin team also woke up and tried to free themselves but stopping to do so after realizing that they were completely disarmed. All of their stuff laid just outside their reach. So they waited and hoped that the Konoha team wouldn't leave them like this. Their hopes were fulfilled a bit when Kimiko went to them and gave them the possibility to drink from one of the bottles and eat one of the ration bars so they didn't go hungry. Well, except one of them who made a perverted comment about Kimiko's C-cup bust and figure overall. She only answered with a smile and said, "Oh… so you're not hungry and thirsty then? Oh well, not my problem.", she then went back to the makeshift hideout leaving behind to chuckling genin and one anime-tear crying, hungry, and thirsty genin.

Chuckling at the events of the night/early morning she woke up both her brother and teammate. While Naruto was like his sister, not a morning person, he definitely got up easier than his sister, while Itachi woke up like a mummy after a thousand-year slumber, straight up not even saying one thing. While they ate breakfast Kimiko told them about what she experienced with the Kusa genin team. Naruto laughed whole-heartedly, Itachi managed to actually chuckle a little. She then went on to explain her idea on how to get the scroll. Through channeling chakra into the tree, she could use the mokuton to make the tree open up more so you could reach inside and retrieve the scroll.

Impressed with that brilliant, yet simple idea, they went right on to try just that. They went outside and Kimiko sank the hideout back into the ground with a doton jutsu. She then went to the tree and placed one of her hands on its bark and the other in a half ram hand seal. Concentrating on channeling chakra into the tree she could slowly feel the tree like one of her mokuton created trees. After a minute of pure channeling, she willed the tree to open up its trunk. And right after commanding the trunk to open, the trunk rolled up to the sides, opening up more and more, revealing the trees insides and the scroll required to pass the test. Swiping away a bead of sweat after this mentally exhausting task Kimiko was happy that they got the scroll.

Before leaving the clearing they went to the Kusa team for the last time, "Stretch your legs as far as you can.", demanded Naruto.

Visibly confused at his demand the Kusa genin stretched their legs out as far as they could. Seeing their farthest reach, Naruto, Itachi, and Kimiko all put the Kusa team's equipment just so they could reach it with their feet, "Here you go now you can work on getting out of there, see ya."

And with that, all three genin blurred out of view to the southwest, in which direction lays Kusagakure no Sato. After about a kilometer of travel, they were interrupted by a giant bear trying to make Team 2 its lunch. Sadly, for the bear, he got a few dozens of shuriken in his back and arse, making him whimper away.

After a few hours, including a few big breaks for the sake of always being rested, and just when they were about a kilometer away from Kusa, they were ambushed by a Takigakure team. ' _Takigakure shinobi, the village is known for its suiton users and their superweapon, the hero's water. Shouldn't be too much of a challenge with Kimiko's doton jutsus but just in case we should be careful._ ', thought Itachi while silently transmitting the information he knows about Taki to Naruto and Kimiko.

And just like thought without even trying to taunt or to ask if they have a scroll, one of the Taki genin went through hand seals, Dragon → Tiger → Hare, and shouted, " **Suiton: Mizurappa** ".

A large jet of water was shooting out of the genins mouth but it was in vain as Kimiko just erected a mud wall with " **Doton: Doryūheki** ". The suiton jutsu just harmlessly impacted on the mud wall, not even denting a little, "It seems your suiton jutsu isn't so effective against my doton jutsu, am I right?", taunted Kimiko the Taki genin.

The taunt worked perfectly as the Taki genin was seething and was about to engage her in taijutsu but a hand on his shoulder prevented him from doing that, "Don't listen to their taunts, Takurō. They're just riling you up to make you make a mistake. Calm down and concentrate. I'm sure they have a scroll on them or they wouldn't be in such a rush to reach Kusagakure!", said a genin who was obviously the team leader.

"Nee-chan I guess the taunts won't work anymore, right?", asked Naruto and got a nod back as the answer to his question. Naruto decided to stop their conversation by forming a few hand seals, Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger → Monkey, and whispered, " **Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni** ". He spewed out multiple small fireballs while Itachi threw the same amount of shuriken inside the fireballs, which then flew at the Taki genins at remarkable speed. But before they could impact the one Taki genin who wasn't distracted by the conversation at that moment also formed hand seals, Tiger → Snake → Rat → Snake → Tiger, and said, " **Suiton: Suijinheki** ". Steam erupted from where the fireballs hit the water wall. What the Taki genin didn't account for, were the shurikens that were concealed within the fireballs.

Once the fireballs were extinguished, the shurikens flew through the water wall and hit all three genin in non-vital areas, mostly arms and legs. They quickly removed the shurikens that stuck to their body and got ready to fight again just as the steam cleared… only then did they notice that Team 2 just ran while they were too distracted.

* * *

"Nee-chan do you think they're onto us by now?", asked a giggling Naruto.

And equally giggling Kimiko just answered, "They're following our clones that left behind those obvious tracks. If they were at least somewhat worthy of being a chūnin, they would notice that our clones are moving away from Kusagakure."

Even Itachi found that hilarious which was shown by his occasional twitch of the lips. After dodging the last fight, Kimiko held her sensory abilities up so they wouldn't engage in another unwanted fight. Only fifteen minutes later they arrived at the gates of Kusagakure, where Mikoto was already waiting for them, "I see you all got through just fine, am I right?"

The three genin chorussed, "Hai Kaa-san/Mikoto-sensei!"

Before they could talk further the proctor walked to them, "Before you enter may I see the scroll you have brought?"

Of course, Chimi-san.", answered Itachi and brought forth their scroll. She looked at the scroll for a few seconds, checking it for openings attempts. Seeing none she congratulated the Konoha genin team, "Well done, you three! You're actually the first team to arrive but the second team will arrive shortly. Now you should all relax for the next three days. In exactly one month and three days begins the third and last part of the chūnin exams. It will be a tournament like exam. And because I like mysteries and surprises, and since I designed these exams, none of the examinees will know who they're up against. Now you're all dismissed."

"Chimi-san?", asked Kimiko after a few steps, a curious look adorning her face, and turned around to face the proctor who was looking at her, "Yeah? What is it?"

"May I know what is in the scroll? I'm kinda curious.", asked Kimiko with a sheepish smile while Naruto, Itachi, and even Mikoto also turned around also curious what was inside these scrolls.

"Oh my dear, that is very simple… inside this scroll", she slowly opened the scroll to build up excitement, "is…", Kimiko was closing in with her face almost on top of the scroll, "...my shopping list for next week!", and just like that the whole Team 2 and even the gate guards around her face-faulted. She looked around, seeing everyone around her on the ground. She chuckled and readied herself to congratulate the next team. Team 2 stood up again and walked towards their hotel.

Once they entered their shared room, Mikoto addressed all her genin, "Since this is a tournament between each of you, I will only be able to aid one of you during training… but I got two of you teachers for the month that will arrive in three days. I'll obviously train Itachi since… well, he is kinda my son."

"So who will train me and Nii-san?", asked Kimiko curious.

"Well, Kimiko-chan, your trainer for the month will be your mother, Namikaze Kushina, while Naruto-kun's teacher will be his perverted godfather, Jiraiya-sama!", explained Mikoto.

"Really, Ero-sennin will train me during the month?", asked Naruto not really succeeding at hiding his excitement. Well, who wouldn't be excited at the prospect of being trained by one of the Densetsu no Sannin? Well, if you look past the fact that one of them is a self-proclaimed super-pervert, the other a drunk and gambling addict, and the last a literal pedophile. Apart from this, they're all still very skilled and stronger than most shinobi will ever get.

"Yes, Naruto-kun you'll be trained by Jiraiya-sama. You're all free to do anything you want except training for the next three days. You're free to go now.", said Mikoto as she sat down in an armchair in their hotel room and began to read a book she brought with her.

"Let's go, guys!", exclaimed Kimiko. She grabbed both Naruto's and Itachi's wrist and pulled them after her like ragdolls to have some fun in their free time…

* * *

 **One week and three days later**

"Ero-sennin… stop peeking and help me train already!", complained Naruto standing at the base of a tree, on which his godfather sat with a telescope in one hand and a pen in another, furiously scribbling down notes for his novel.

"Quiet Naruto! You're going to scare away the beauties.", replied Jiraiya with a small blush adorning his cheeks.

"I don't care! You're supposed to teach me and not peek while giving me a task I could do since I was five!", countered Naruto. After learning a katon jutsu from his godfather, Jiraiya gave him chakra control exercises. There was one he didn't attempt yet, which was to stick a huge amount of senbon needles to your body. This exercise was different from the Leaf sticking exercise as senbon needles were actually even thinner than the stalks of leaves, requiring even more chakra control to successfully stick to the body. The other exercises provided by Jiraiya were tree walking and water walking. Well, apparently Jiraiya didn't know that he knew both chakra control exercises since he was five years old.

"What do you mean you know them since you're five?", asked Jiraiya actually surprised that he knew both exercises. It's normally first taught when you become genin but others teach it while preparing for the third part of the chūnin exams, just like Jiraiya had planned.

"Just like I said I mastered both of them at five years of age!", pouted Naruto crossing his arms in front of his chest and huffing out.

Jiraiya sighed and wondered what he could teach that boy that would also allow him to peek. Something that takes a long time and is really hard…, "That's it!", exclaimed Jiraiya happily while burying his right fist into his left hand's palm.

"I'll teach you the signature jutsu of your father!", said a grinning Jiraiya looking at an excited Naruto.

"Ero-sennin you know the ' **Hiraishin no Jutsu** '?", asked Naruto with an excited tone.

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head while smiling sheepishly, looking awfully like Naruto's father, "No, I'm sorry Naruto… I meant the other signature jutsu."

Naruto thought about it for a few seconds, ' _Other signature jutsu? What does Tou-chan have special other than the '_ _ **Hiraishin no Jutsu**_ ' _? Oh, I remember that sphere thingy… '_ _ **Rasengan**_ ' _yeah that was it._ '

When realization hit Naruto he was more excited than ever before. He could possibly learn a technique his father designed. And not just any jutsu, a jutsu he created using the bijū's bijūdama as the base!

"You're going to teach me the ' **Rasengan** '?", asked Naruto with always growing excitement at learning such a jutsu.

"Exactly! Now to learn the ' **Rasengan** ' you have to master three steps! The first is rotation, the second is power, and the third and final step is to combine both of the former steps and contain them into a sphere shape.", explained Jiraiya while rummaging through his pockets in search of a specific storage scroll. Finally finding the storage scroll the opened it a little, revealing a storage seal. After channeling into the seal a little sack popped out of it in a poof of smoke. Jiraiya reached into the sack and pulled out two water balloons. He tossed one over to Naruto who easily caught it with his left hand

"Ero-sennin? What are we going to need the water balloons for?", asked Naruto actually curious if this was just a ruse by his godfather or actually how his father invented the jutsu.

"The water balloons are required for the first step of learning the ' **Rasengan** '. Here I will show you.", said Jiraiya as he held out his right hand with the water balloon in his palm. After a few seconds, the water balloon suddenly started to expand into multiple directions at once. And just like that, the water balloon popped a second later.

"You must rotate your chakra within the balloon to make it pop. If you don't do it properly it will pop in one spot only but it has to really burst completely. Additionally, it is wise to first find out in which direction your chakra naturally spins inside your own chakra system. Imagine it like this: when you're molding chakra you combine your spiritual and physical energies, called yin and yang chakra, to mold complete chakra. When this combining takes place, your chakra unconsciously spins in a specific direction. To find out in what direction it spins, you can either try out which direction of rotating feels more natural or I can feel it out for you and tell you.", explained Jiraiya.

"I think I understand, thank you Ero-sennin! You can continue peeking now.", began Naruto with Jiraiya nodding proudly. Yet when he heard the last part of Naruto's statement he face-faulted and bopped him on the head.

"I'm doing research and don't peek. AND DON'T CALL ME ERO-SENNIN!", practically whined Jiraiya and mumbled something about 'Youth these days ain't respecting their elders…'.

"Now get onto it, brat", ordered Jiraiya, receiving a mock-salute and a 'Yes sir!'. He sighed and went back to do his 'research'.

"Once I've finished the ' **Rasengan** ' I'll work on my genjutsu. I've already got some ideas to better my genjutsu skill.", said Naruto giddy at the thought of learning the ' **Rasengan** ' as well as perfecting his genjutsu skills.

* * *

 **Same time, with Kimiko**

"So Kimiko-chan you've progressed very well with my kenjutsu style! I must say it looked harder when I created it and taught it to others…", said Kushina smiling proudly at her daughter, "You know that there will be a great possibility that you'll end up fighting your brother in the finals, right?"

Kimiko nodded determined, "Yes, I know! I will defeat Nii-san and show him how far I've progressed! I'll also defeat Itachi and win the chūnin exams, 'ttebayo!"

"That's the spirit, Kimiko-chan!", praised Kushina, "but you'll need more aces up your sleeve. You must surprise him to take him off guard and as such be able to defeat him! Remember, he's not called a prodigy on the level of Orochimaru for nothing. His comprehension of jutsu is marvelous, as is his natural knack at ninjutsu and genjutsu. By the way I hope you know how to detect and lift genjutsu."

"Of course Kaa-chan! It was one of the first lessons with Mikoto-sensei.", answered Kimiko her mother.

"Your goal would be to find a way to fight your brother without the need to look him into the eyes. Because I think you know what happens to someone who looks into the Sharingan carelessly. Nevertheless, once you found a way to bypass his Sharingan he will have lost one of his major strengths, his immense skill at genjutsu.", lectured Kushina.

"Perhaps you may be able to predict his movements by the way his legs move or something like it but never and I mean never meet his gaze in a fight. There're many genjutsu only defeatable if you yourself have a Sharingan and even then there are some genjutsu that are still beyond that. You may detect them but you're unable to dispel them without the right set of skill.

Kimiko listened, carefully taking the advice to heart. "But now we get back to getting some aces up your sleeve! First, I will teach you a B-rank suiton jutsu that requires a lot of water and a lot of hand seals. But it's destructive power is immense! This jutsu is called, ' **Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu** '...", began Kushina.

* * *

 **Same time, with Itachi**

"We finally did it, Itachi-kun!", exclaimed Mikoto, "We finally managed to fully mature your Sharingan!"

And true to that Itachi's Sharingan finally adorned three tomoes rather than the two from before. The reason why the Sharingan matured was due to the whole week consisting of harsh spars where Mikoto didn't pull her punches in the slightest. She fought without holding back to help Itachi. Of course it is quite hard on a mother's psyche to basically beat up her own child but it was necessary for Itachi to be an opponent strong enough o match his two teammates and the other finalists… whoever they were.

"Now we can focus on getting you some more jutsu under your belt so you have more fighting variability.", told Mikoto her son who was, as always listening carefully and saving up the memory of such advices in his mind.

"The jutsus I've prepared are for one the ' **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu** ' and secondly the ' **Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu** '! Those jutsus will up your hitting power substantially if you're to master them of course:", said Mikoto with a smirk knowing that Itachi would always first master a jutsu completely before beginning to learn the next. Seeing the determined face of Itachi made her proud of her son and wondered what the other two of her squad were doing at this moment…

* * *

 **Three weeks later, Kusagakure's chūnin exam stadium**

"Welcome, Kages, daimyōs, nobles, shinobi, civilians, and more to the bi-annual chūnin selection exams! Today these twelve chūnin hopefuls will fight in a tournament to determine who will be promoted to chūnin and who not. Of course, they're also here for you to see spectacular fights and have bets on who will win and who not!", declared Doku Chimi, her voice echoing through the whole stadium, which was by the way completely sold out, by enhancing the volume through channeling chakra to the throat.

"The tournament will be carried out as follows: Fight One of Round One: Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure versus Taifū of Sunagakure; Fight Two of Round One: Ashi of Kusagakure versus Namikaze Naruto of Konohagakure; Fight Three of Round One: Koishi of Sunagakure versus Kinoko of Kusagakure; Fight Four of Round One: Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure versus Akatsuchi of Iwagakure; Fight Five of Round One: Deidara of Iwagakure versus Take of Kusagakure; and finally Fight Six of Round One: Namikaze Kimiko of Konohagakure versus Surredō of Sunagakure! For Round Two: The winners of Fight 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 respectively will fight for a place in the finals. The finals will be a three-way battle between the winners of Round Two.", explained Doku in one breath.

"Now I ask all the contestants except for Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure and Taifū of Sunagakure to return to the contestant's box!", said Chimi watching the other chūnin hopefuls hurrying out of the battleground.

"Are both contestants ready?", asked Chimi. She received two nods, one form each contestant.

"Without further ado, BEGIN!", shouted Chimi…

* * *

 **Author note: Just wanted to say that I decided to let the poll continue on for a little bit longer. The choices are still the same:**

 **Naruto x Female Kaguya Clan member**

 **Naruto x Female Uchiha Clan member**

 **Naruto x some other OC**

 **Additionally, I wanted to thank some of you who submitted some Rinnegan abilities and that I've decided on one. But I won't tell you as it would obviously be a spoiler! :P**

 **Thank you once again for all your support and I hope you all enjoyed the slightly longer chapter this time! See ya next time.**

* * *

" **Dokugiri** " = " **Poison Mist** "

" **Fūton: Daitoppa** " = " **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough** "

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique** "

" **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu** " = " **Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique** "

" **Suiton: Teppōdama** " = " **Water Release: Gunshot** "

" **Doton: Doryūheki** " = " **Earth Release: Mud Wall** "

" **Suiton: Mizurappa** " = " **Water Release: Water Trumpet** "

" **Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni** " = " **Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Nail Crimson** "

" **Suiton: Suijinheki** " = " **Water Release: Water Wall** "

" **Densetsu no Sannin** " = " **Legendary Three Ninja** "

" **Hiraishin no Jutsu** " = " **Flying Thunder God Technique** "

" **Rasengan** " = " **Spiralling Sphere** "

" **Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu** " = " **Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique** "

" **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique** "

" **Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique** "


	7. Chūnin Exams: Part III

**Chapter 7**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OCs I create. A wise man named Masashi Kishimoto once said some very wise words, "All people, even the strongest ones, have weaknesses, however, Madara does not." True words since should anybody ever meet Madara on the battlefield… well, you could at least try to pray before your inevitable death...**

* * *

 **Kusagakure's chūnin exam arena**

"Are both contestants ready?", asked Chimi. She looked at both contestants. Both haven't changed their looks to look more imposing for the nobles watching since the last time she saw them, which was at the end of the second exam. Taifū still wore a simple brown battle uniform which is quite common in Sunagakure, even adorning the usual turban. She received two nods, one from each contestant confirming their readiness.

"Without further ado, BEGIN!", shouted Chimi as she immediately jumped backwards to give the competitors some space to fight.

Taifū quickly pulled the fan, that was strapped on his back, from his back and opened it showing one purple circle currently in the middle of the fan. He swung the fan at Kurotsuchi, who hasn't moved yet, by the way, quickly forming some hand seals, Snake → Dragon → Bird, and shouted, " **Fūton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu** ".

After swinging the fan, a giant wind cortex formed, completely engulfing Kurotsuchi inside, cutting her all over her body. Once the vortex stopped Kurotsuchi's body plummeted towards the ground. Taifū arrogantly smirked, "Well wasn't that easy. Proctor, call the match she won't get back up!"

He turned around and walked away, awaiting the proctor to call the match. When he didn't hear her call the match, Taifū rose an eyebrow and turned around only to see "Kurotsuchi's" body turn to rocks, "What? ' **Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu** '? When did she… no matter where is she?", asked Taifū himself turning around his own axis multiple times. After about half a minute finally, did he notice Kurotsuchi form out of the ground, already forming a set of hand seals, Snake → Ram → Dog → Rat → Snake → Tiger, and silently saying " **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** "!

Kurotsuchi sprinted as fast as she could towards Taifū, hoping to quickly knock him out without revealing too much of her skill set. Unluckily, for Kurotsuchi, however, Taifū did see her out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned towards her and brought up his fan to block her punch.

The stone of Kurotsuchi's stone fist hitting the metal of Taifū's fan caused a great number of sparks to appear, which disappeared just as quickly as they appeared. Due to the force of the stone fist, Taifū noticed how he was slowly pushed backwards, ' _I cannot engage her in taijutsu… her '_ _ **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu**_ ' _will overpower me easily. I need to gain distance and force her into long-range combat. Seemingly she seems to specialize in close quarter combat._ '

Beginning his plan, Taifū somersaulted backwards multiple times, gaining a good distance between himself and Kurotsuchi. He quickly stuck his fan into the ground and performed a few hand seals, Tiger → Rabbit → Dog → Ram → Dragon, and shouted, " **Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu** ". Once he finished the hand seals he pulled out his fan out of the ground, opening his fan until it showed two purple circles. He swung his fan, causing five blades of wind to form, flying towards Kurotsuchi.

Slowly getting annoyed that her opponent noticed that she isn't so good at long-range combat, Kurotsuchi merely tsked in annoyance and jumped sideways, dodging the wind blades skillfully. When the wind blades hit the stadium walls they left behind deep gashes of at least 5 feet in length and a foot or two in depth. Kurotsuchi gulped nervously when she saw the effects of the wind blades, ' _I don't even want to know what would've happened if that hit me… Doesn't matter right now just be glad that I dodged it rather than trying to block it. More importantly right now… I have to disarm him then I may be able to force him to surrender but that could be quite difficult… Wait I have an idea..._ '

Regaining her composure she formed hand seals once again, Ram → Monkey → Horse → Ram, " **Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu** ". Just as she said that from out of the ground five Kurotsuchi's formed out of the rocky ground of the stadium. She addressed the two clones on her left quietly, "You two hide underground and when I give the signal, you jump at him and hold him down long enough for me to finish him off, understood?". The two clones nodded and placed themselves behind her and the three other clones. Kurotsuchi then addressed the rest of the clones quietly, "We distract him with ninjutsu and taijutsu, let's go!"

The three clones plus the original placed themselves in front of the two clones behind them, to block Taifū's view of the clones, who quickly used ' **Doton: Moruragakure no Jutsu** ' to hide underground. Seeing no reaction from Taifū, Kurotsuchi was inwardly relieved that that part of her plan worked. A quick nod to the clones and the clones sped forwards, intent on engaging him in taijutsu while the original Kurotsuchi used ninjutsu to herd him towards the stadium wall.

Taifū dodged a blow aimed at his head while simultaneously blocking a knee strike with the side of his battle fan. He felt himself being pushed back and before long he felt his back press against a wall. His eyes widened in realization of his situation but before he could act, Kurotsuchi shouted, "NOW!"

Out of the ground, two rock clones jumped and held down his limbs. Taifū desperately tried to make them release him but to no avail. Kurotsuchi, not wanting to give him time to escape sped towards him while forming hand seals, Snake → Ram → Dog → Rat → Snake → Tiger, " **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** ". Rocks gathered at Kurotsuchi's fist tripling the size of her actual fist. She slammed her fist in his abdomen, knocking out all his air plus making him spit out a glob of blood. He vainly tried to keep his consciousness but ultimately lost his consciousness.

Seeing the Suna genin hit the ground, unconscious, Chimi called the match, "Winner of the first Fight of Round One: Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure!" The whole stadium erupted in cheers at the fight they witnessed while not as spectacular as perhaps a battle between jōnin, it was still a sight to behold.

* * *

 **Kage box**

"I must say your granddaughter performed grandiose, Tsuchikage-dono.", praised the Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa.

"Of course, she did! I myself oversaw to her training!", boasted the elderly Tsuchikage, Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki, while subtly glancing over to see his Konohagakure counterpart. He seethed inwardly seeing the calm exterior of number two of Iwagakure's most hated shinobi, number one on the list being none other than Uchiha Madara, former Uchiha Clan patriarch and the one who tried to force an early Iwagakure to submit to the power of Konohagakure.

Minato sensed the subtle killing intent leaked by the elderly Tsuchikage and chuckled inwardly, ' _Some things never change, I guess…_ ' Minato then put in his own two cents, "I'm sure my eldest and second eldest will also make quite the show, don't you agree, Kazekage-dono, Tsuchikage-dono?"

"Hmpf, we shall see… though I doubt they will be able to beat my granddaughter.", was the creative answer of Ōnoki, while the Kazekage didn't have the animosity of the Tsuchikage in his answer, "I'm sure they will but they should be careful should they face Koishi-kun. He can be… devastating in a fight for a lack of a better word."

"Well I shall see forward to his fight then but first my attention lies with my son.", replied Minato with a kind smile at the prospect of seeing his eldest child fight, after all being the Hokage he hadn't as much time to spent with all his children as he would love to have. The last time he has seen his son fight was long ago when they were in their first year of the academy.

"So do you recommend them for chūnin?", questioned the Kazekage.

"Kurotsuchi seems to be chūnin material and we certainly can expect some more showings of her worthiness but Taifū, in my opinion, was too easily tricked by her plan. He should've easily seen her hide the two clones behind her and then sent them underground. But it is still your decision with Taifū, Kazekage-dono:", stated Minato, Ōnoki agreed with him as did the leader of Kusagakure with a single approving grunt.

The Kages turned towards the leader of Kusagakure, a man named Fotane, who looked like he was definitely past his prime. His mouth was covered by bandages up to and including his nose and his head was bald. While his looks may suggest otherwise, he was generally a very kind and accepting old man. The reason as to why he wore bandages over his mouth was due to him being mute and only able to make a few grunts at the max, thus he can only communicate in sign language only taught to his most trusted shinobis. He wore simple brown robes tied with a brown thin rope as well as light brown pants and traditional wooden sandals. Actually, the only thing hinting to his older age were the many wrinkles in his face. He gestured for his bodyguard to come forward and formed a few hand signs, signaling the guard to tell the proctor to continue with the next match. The guard nodded and shunshinned into the arena.

* * *

 **A few minutes earlier, spectator seats**

"Kaa-chan? Onii-chan is fighting now right?", asked an ecstatic Aiko who sat on the lap of her mother. Kushina smiled down at her youngest child and ruffled her hair, "Yes, Naruto-kun is going to fight next."

"Onii-chan will win this exam easily!", exclaimed Aiko while waving around with her arms to try to imitate the 'cool stuff her elder brother could do'.

Sasuke, who sat with his mother right next to them, scoffed, "No way! Nii-san is easily the strongest here, right kaa-chan?"

Mikoto rubbed her chin, "It really is complicated. It depends on if and how they will fight and what Naruto-kun learned during the month under Jiraiya-sama."

Aiko looked smug while Sasuke couldn't believe what he just heard. Someone was at least as strong as his brother? In Sasuke's beliefs, Itachi was the most powerful shinobi in the world.

Suddenly they heard throughout the whole arena, "Namikaze Naruto of Konohagakure and Ashi of Kusagakure please find yourself in the arena within the next five minutes!"

They didn't have to wait long for Naruto to enter the arena.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

For the event of these chūnin exams, he discarded his old clothes and adopted a new attire. Currently, he was wearing a pair of black pants and gloves, with a white form-fitting shirt underneath. Over that Naruto wore a black, high-collared, long sleeve mantle with the Namikaze Clan emblem adorning its back. Although you couldn't see it behind all his hair. Speaking of his hair, where before he let his hair hang freely without restraint, he now bound his hair together with bandages from his neck to his shoulder blades. He also bandaged up the two bangs framing his face on both sides. His hair was long, reaching his lower back, but ultimately cut short on top. He wore a simple grey obi and a belt, keeping the attire together. Lastly, he wore his forehead protector with black cloth around his forehead.

Naruto went up to the proctor and waited there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, waiting patiently for his opponent. He waited for a few minutes until finally, his opponent came. He had a happy, carefree attitude, but even without his Sharingan, Naruto could see him gauging his strength. But it was seemingly all for naught as Ashi suddenly smirked cockily, apparently, he didn't gauge Naruto's strength correctly or his own. Ashi wore the common attire worn by Kusagakure shinobi except for a beige scarf that covered his mouth and shoulders. He wore his forehead protector like a bandanna covering to the top of his head. Out of the side of his bandanna came his light brown hair.

They stood apart a few yards and waited for the proctor to start the match. Chimi looked at Ashi first, then looked at Naruto and saw both were ready but to be sure, "Are you both ready?"

"Yes, Chimi-san", replied Naruto while Ashi just kept smirking and grunted in agreement.

"Then, BEGIN!", shouted Chimi and once again jumped back.

Naruto moved not an inch except for activating his three-tomoe Sharingan, drawing gasps from all those around knowing that he wasn't an Uchiha so how did he acquire the Sharingan? Well, most would ask him and his family… but even they don't know why or how. This greatly aggravated Ashi, how he hated to be underestimated. In his anger, he shouted out, "Hey you bastard, don't underestimate me!"

He began to weave hand seals, Snake → Ram → Boar → Horse → Bird, and finally clapped his hands together and was about to shout out his jutsu's name, he saw Naruto being completely in sync with himself. Ashi saw Naruto perfectly copy his every movement. They both simultaneously shouted out, " **Fūton: Reppūshō** ". From both shinobi powerful gales of wind hit and canceled themselves. Ashi tsked in annoyance and thought about what to do next when he thought about another jutsu he could try. As Naruto saw him moulding chakra to perform another jutsu, he placed Ashi under a genjutsu to make him think Naruto could see into the future. Ashi was about to begin weaving hand seals when Naruto began to weave exactly the hand seals he thought about, Rat → Rabbit → Dog, Naruto even finished them beforehand and pulling his collar down to show his mouth, he then calmly said, " **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku** ".

Out of Naruto's mouth, he shot tiny bullets of compressed air that could easily rip through flesh. While still in shock about this, Ashi managed to dodge the air bullets, "What was that?! Can you see into the future?"

Naruto managed a small smirk, although no one saw it beneath his high-collar, "Perhaps… perhaps not… but what is important now is… that you're no match for me!", taunted Naruto.

Luckily for Naruto, it seemed like Ashi was easily angered and Ashi retaliated to this taunt by performing the jutsu Naruto just used, " **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku** ". He shot a few dozens of those air bullets, only then realizing just how much chakra he expended by this. Naruto just weaved in and out, easily dodging all the bullets. Having enough of this little skirmish, Naruto sped forward, intent on engaging Ashi in taijutsu.

Ashi, still in his enraged state, just threw around sloppy punches. Once again, Naruto just dodged them and deflected them to areas where they did no harm to him. Naruto also shot in some jabs, intently focussing on those areas which are most powerful. For example, the solar plexus. Finally, getting enough Ashi forced himself to calm down, he refocused his strength and his punches. Still, it was too late. Ashi threw a punch at Naruto's face, who in retaliation just moved a bit to the side and caught Ashi's hand within his left palm. Ashi then tried an uppercut which was then caught in Naruto's right palm.

Ashi tried to free himself but soon found out that Naruto's hands wouldn't budge. After a few seconds of stand-still, Naruto impassively requested, "I'm gonna borrow your hand for a bit!"

Everyone in the arena heard it and were confused since they did not know much about Uchiha Clan abilities. Mikoto smirked while Itachi was doing the same. Still, the rest of the stadium including Ashi himself didn't know how he could 'borrow a hand'. The answer soon came as Naruto used Ashi's hand to weave hand seals! Ashi tried to resist but his hand didn't follow his commands anymore. Naruto forced Ashi to weave the hand seals he wanted, Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger, Naruto then released Ashi's hand and jumped backwards into the sky, " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** ". Unlike normally where the " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " is a large infernal ball of flames, this time its shape was rather formed to be kind of a flamethrower.

The flames came dangerously close to Ashi as he jumped back several times to dodge the flames. When the flames finally dispersed, he saw Naruto standing in the middle of the scorched earth. Suddenly, Ashi felt severe pain in his legs and looked down at them. His eyes widened when his legs blurred a bit and suddenly kunai and senbon needles appeared lodged in his legs. Next came pain in his arms, he looked at them and saw shurikens lodged in his arms, all missing important veins but still painful as hell. Ashi fell backwards on his butt, unable to stand anymore the pain was too excruciating. It felt like torture since the now obvious genjutsu stored up all the pain inflicted to him while he was caught under it. He only had one question before losing his consciousness due to pain overload, "W-When?"

Naruto's impassive face cleared showing a bit of emotion, "When I grabbed your hands you looked me in the eyes for what felt like hours. I was almost compelled to not putting you into a genjutsu but you wouldn't have learned from it then. Because there is one rule you'll always have to follow when fighting a wielder of the Sharingan… Never and I mean never look him directly into the eyes or you forfeit your life."

After the lecture, Ashi finally lost consciousness and Chimi approached Naruto, "Due to knock out the winner is Namikaze Naruto!"

The whole stadium erupted in cheers and applause and one could even hear Kushina shout at everyone how her son and daughter would beat every one of them. When Naruto heard that he chuckled lightly. His mother and sister were always so… brash. But he liked it nonetheless. The only ones not cheering were the few shinobi of Iwagakure who attended the finals as well as the Tsuchikage. The most he got was a small quiet clapping of the Tsuchikage, who had to admit that the boy had talent. Even the Kazekage had to admit that Naruto's tactics were phenomenal for his rank and age.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Onii-chan won, Kaa-chan!", exclaimed Aiko overly happy seeing her brother fight so good.

"Yes, he did, Aiko-chan. I bet you're proud to be his sister, aren't you? You also want to become as strong as him right?", asked Kushina with Aiko nodding enthusiastically.

"Hn, he was okay… still not as good as Nii-san but okay.", pouted Sasuke. He had to admit Naruto's fight was impressive but he wouldn't betray his brother.

"Yeah, right you just don't want to admit that Onii-chan is better than Itachi, right Sasuke?", teased Aiko with Sasuke blushing from embarrassment at being caught.

"S-Shut u-up.", stammered Sasuke but Aiko continued to sit on her mother's lap with a knowing smirk but she decided to let it fall… for now. She returned her sight to the arena and saw Naruto re-enter the contestant's box.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, Kage box**

"That was quite the show your son put on, Hokage-dono.", praised the Kazekage.

"Thank you, Kazekage-dono. I'm quite proud of him myself. I'm also looking forward to seeing my daughters fight. My wife trained her during the month so I'm confident she also will make quite the show.", said Minato with a proud smile.

"Hmpf, even though I don't like it, I have to admit that he did make a good show.", admitted Ōnoki, "Still, he will be no match for Kurotsuchi."

"We will see, Tsuchikage-dono.", replied Minato with a little smirk, "But first recommendations for chūnin."

Rasa began, "I'm sorry, Fotane-dono, but I must say Ashi isn't ready to become chūnin as of yet. He was short-tempered, was easily taunted, and is quite arrogant. You should advise his sensei to help him overcome that arrogance."

Fotane nodded at this summary and formed a few hand signs as a reply. His translator then told them what he said, "I must agree with you and I will address his sensei with this problem. Thank you for the critics."

Ōnoki, as well as Minato, agreed with Rasa's deduction. Rasa then continued, "But I must definitely recommend Naruto-kun for chūnin. Hell, I would almost recommend him to jōnin but we haven't seen enough of his genius yet to justify such a decision. Also, jōnin-level missions aren't something for such a young mind..."

Nobody could deny that claim, even though Ōnoki would've loved to. They all agreed that Naruto was definitely becoming chūnin, perhaps even jōnin.

"Fotane-dono, would you please initiate the next match?", asked Minato formally. Fotane nodded and once again gestured for the guard to inform the proctor.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

"Would Koishi of Sunagakure and Kinoko of Kusagakure please come to the arena?", announced Chimi.

Koishi entered first, with Kinoko only being a few feet behind. Koishi had his usual arrogant smirk, like every Suna-nin in the exams. He wore the standard Sunagakure shinobi attire minus the flak jacket and turban. His uniform was light-brown to better blend in with the deserts of Kaze no Kuni.

Kinoko, on the other hand, wore a lab coat that obstructed the view of his shirt and pants. The only thing other than that to see was that he had black shinobi sandals, pale blond hair, and light brown pupilless eyes.

They placed themselves a few feet apart, facing each other. Chimi questioned, "You guys ready?"

Kinoko answered with a polite, "Yes, Chimi-san.", while Koishi simply disregarded her question and grunted in approval.

"Then I announce Fight Three of Round One to start now, BEGIN!", shouted Chimi while jumping back.

"You should surrender now! You stand no chance against me! I'm the strongest genin in these exams, nobody is able to defeat me!", declared Koishi with a very arrogant smirk.

Instantly Koishi opened his pouches at the sides of his hips and black sand started to escape from the pouches. Kinoko didn't show it but he was really nervous on the inside, ' _Dammit! He seems strong and I'm only the supporting type… I'm a medic-nin for Kami's sake._ '

Opting to finish the fight very quickly, Koishi formed the Tiger hand seal and the black sand started to form to thousands of small black needles that quickly surrounded Kinoko from all sides even from above, "Surrender now, you can't win against me, fool!", stated Koishi arrogantly.

Kinoko clicked his tongue, he could see that this jutsu would hurt quite a bit but he could patch himself up after being hit… as long as it didn't pierce any vital points. But the look of Koishi told Kinoko that he would only aim at all his vital spots. He was in a dilemma. Either fight and risk being hit and die or surrender and live for another day and maybe get field promoted to chūnin. Perhaps with a good enough explanation, he could at least leave a good impression behind with the judges. Kinoko sighed defeated and rose his hand, "Proctor, I forfeit. My skill-set is unfit to combat his specific skill-set. I'm a medic-nin, not a long-range ninjutsu type."

Chimi smiled kindly at Kinoko, having seen her multiple times working at the hospital. Apparently, she was really talented in iryō ninjutsu. Chimi nodded at her, "Due to forfeit, the winner of Fight Three is Koishi of Sunagakure!"

Unlike, the first two matches there were only a few clapping and cheering. Not only was the fight short and boring but that arrogant attitude of Koishi spoiled the fun in the match. But Koishi apparently didn't care… or he was imagining the whole stadium going ape-shit crazy about how cool he is and how they want to marry him, in his mind.

"For Fight Four, would Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure and Akatsuchi of Iwagakure please enter the stadium!", announced Chimi which made the whole stadium giddy at the prospect of seeing the Uchiha prodigy fight, but none more than Uchiha Sasuke, who adored his big brother more than anything, and Uchiha Fugaku who wanted to see how far his son has grown. Mikoto didn't cheer loudly because, firstly Itachi knew she would always be proud of him, and secondly… well, she was their sensei and knew exactly what Itachi was capable of.

* * *

 **Kage box, a few minutes earlier**

Rasa frowned at his nephew's attitude. The attitude came when they discovered he possessed the Jiton Kekkei Genkai and he was told that he could maybe take after his relative, the Sandaime Kazekage, and control Iron Sand with it. When Koishi heard that his attitude changed overnight. He turned arrogant and began to compare himself in power to the Sandaime Kazekage, who was, in fact, the strongest Kazekage in history and as such the strongest shinobi in Sunagakure's history.

"Well, to praise Kinoko, I have to say he knew when to quit being a medic-nin and all. Perhaps, you should allow him to prove some other way that he's ready to become a chūnin, Fotane-dono. We should really agree on some different method for medic-nins to be promoted to chūnin after all their skill set is not for fighting but rather support and sometimes defense. Or at least a different final exam of the chūnin exams only for medic-nins since they too require the necessary intellectual skills as well as survival skills.", analyzed Minato with Ōnoki and Rasa agreeing. Fotane agreed which came through an approving grunt.

"I cannot say much for Koishi either, other than he acted quickly and effectively but that arrogant attitude may become a problem when he is a team leader, which he will be as a chūnin. Kazekage-dono, not to be rude but you should take him down a peg or two.", insisted Minato where surprisingly the first to agree was the Kazekage himself.

"I know he has been like that ever since I told him of one of our ancestors the Sandaime Kazekage. He began comparing himself to how great his ancestor was and started to sell Sandaime-sama's achievements as his own to the point where he even adopted the same Iron Sand. He's a little bundle of trouble. If he continues to show arrogance during this exam, I'll simply deny to promote him until he got his arrogance in check!", declared Rasa firmly. Minato smiled, that was actually a good idea.

Before the Kage could ask Fotane to continue the matches, the elderly man already motioned for his bodyguard to continue the exams.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

During the one-month training period, neither Itachi nor Akatsuchi changed their attire. THey both still sported the same look they did when they entered the exams. They stood a few feet apart with Chimi standing in between them, "Are you both ready?", Chimi asked.

Both replied in a polite, "Yes."

"Then without further ado, Fight Four of Round One, BEGIN!", shouted Chimi and jumped back.

Akatsuchi wasted no time and ran to engage Itachi in taijutsu. With his superior physical strength and size, he thought he would be dominating in taijutsu against the Uchiha prodigy. He thought wrong, seeing as Itachi simply danced around the punches and kicks with his Sharingan activated to predict the trajectory of every attack. Akatsuchi threw a punch at Itachi's temple, hoping to knock him out quickly. Itachi deflected the blow to someplace safe. Using the momentum of his punch, Akatsuchi spun around and performed a roundhouse kick. Once again Itachi dodged, this time by ducking beneath the kick, and jumped back, throwing multiple kunai.

Akatsuchi dodged the kunai easily but saw a little glint in the air. Focussing onto the glint he noticed ninja wire. His eyes widened and he turned around to see the kunai coming directly at him. He once again tried to dodge but this time received multiple cuts along his legs and arms. One kunai even lodged itself in his right arm.

Akatsuchi backed off form Itachi, creating space between them. He quickly performed the Snake hand seal and shouted, " **Doton: Gōremu no Jutsu** ". He then proceeded to vomit out large quantities of rocks, quickly forming a humanoid stone golem, easily towering a few feet over Akatsuchi in size. Giving a mental command, Akatsuchi told the golem to rush at Itachi and to crush him. The golem sprinted forward at astonishing speeds, considering its build and stature. Itachi jumped back multiple times trying to evade the large rock giant. Yet he did notice that Akatsuchi hadn't moved from his spot yet, meaning either one could not move during the duration of this jutsu or he wasn't skilled enough to divide his concentration between moving and operating his own body while simultaneously commanding the movements of the golem. Not that it mattered to Itachi right now, important was that he wasn't moving.

Making a quick plan in his mind, Itachi ran toward Akatsuchi. Seeing Itachi approach him quickly, Akatsuchi commanded the golem to defend him. The golem quickly positioned itself between Akatsuchi and Itachi. Feeling slightly annoyed by the golem, not that one could see it on Itachi's perfectly stoic face, he began forming hand seals, Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger, and shouted, " **Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu** ". A multitude of smaller fireballs escaped Itachi's mouth and skillfully evaded the golem, heading straight for Akatsuchi. Grunting in annoyance Akatsuchi jumped away, causing the golem to crumble away due to the broken concentration.

Quickly performing the necessary hand seals, Snake → Ram → Dog → Rat → Snake → Tiger, Akatsuchi said, " **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** ". His hands quickly became engulfed in stone. He then closed the distance between himself and his opponent very quickly and tried to engage Itachi in taijutsu again. When Itachi dodged the punch, a drop of sweat rolled down his brow. The place where the punch landed had now become a decently-sized crater, ' _I sure don't wanna get hit by one of those_ ', thought Itachi to himself.

Arming himself with throwable weaponry once again, Itachi quickly fired them off towards Akatsuchi, who proceeded to simply bat them away with his rock fists. Akatsuchi formed a few rock clones to surround Itachi and cut off every escape route. He formed three clones all also daunting the rock fists. Akatsuchi was also sweating quite profusely and breathing heavily due to exhaustion, after all, he was still rather young and his chakra coils weren't completely matured yet, unlike a specific redhead clan whose members have kage-level chakra reserves when they are chūnin level.

Itachi did his best to dodge the blows but eventually, he got hit by a single punch and launched backwards. He skidded across the floor and laid face down. The crowd was silent. The Uchiha prodigy was defeated by some genin from Iwagakure. None were more shocked than Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Sasuke. Fugaku because he didn't think that Itachi would disappoint him in such a way. While Sasuke thought his brother unbeatable. Akatsuchi smiled. Not only had he defeated the Uchiha prodigy but also just in the knack of time since he was already running low on chakra. Chimi was about to call the match in Akatsuchi's favor when Itachi's body suddenly erupted in a flock of crows. They flew around Akatsuchi, disorienting him severely. Suddenly they all stopped around him, facing Akatsuchi. After a few seconds of standstill, and confusion in Akatsuchi's case, the crows sped towards Akatsuchi. Finally sensing the slight distortion in his own chakra, Akatsuchi formed the Ram hand seal, " **Kai!** " All the crows transformed into shurikens, hellbent on establishing contact with Akatsuchi's skin.

Having already lost his rock fists due to his exhaustion, all he could do was position his arm in front of his face, preventing severe damage. Taking the brunt of the attack, Akatsuchi fell forward on one knee, due to pain and exhaustion. Out of a shadow from the sides of the arena, Itachi stepped out holding his stomach in pain. He did take the blow but was able to place Akatsuchi under a genjutsu before Akatsuchi noticed. He approached Akatsuchi and held a kunai to his throat, "Surrender!", commanded Itachi.

Seeing no way out of this and being too tired to argue, Akatsuchi simply surrendered. Chimi returned to the middle of the arena and enhanced her voice with chakra, "Due to a forfeit by Akatsuchi of Iwagakure, the winner is Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure!"

The crowd went wild. What a fight that was. The civilians, though they had no idea what the shinobi down there were doing other than beating the crap out of the other, were entertained. More so those that bet on the Uchiha winning. Those were the happiest right now.

Itachi looked up at his family and saw with his still activated Sharingan, his father and mother mouthing the words, ' _I'm proud of you, my son/Itachi-kun!_ '. He also saw his little brother boasting about how cool his big brother was compared to all the other contestants. Itachi even managed a smile seeing that. Yet he did know that his biggest challenge in these exams would be his own teammates…

* * *

 **Kage box**

"Well, well, well, would you look at that another victory of Konoha over Iwa, wouldn't you agree, Tsuchikage-dono?", playfully taunted Rasa.

Ōnoki was inwardly seething. Akatsuchi was one of the most promising genin of Iwagakure at the moment and he was bested by this Konoha pest.

"Hey, hey, Kazekage-dono you don't have to taunt him… his back might make him problems otherwise.", Minato tried to salvage the situation… and failed at that.

"No respect for your elders, you younglings! Back in my time- OWW!", suddenly shouted Ōnoki holding his back in pain. He grumbled something underneath his breath and sitting back down on his seat.

"Well, Kazekage-dono, Tsuchikage-dono. What are your opinions on both of these genins?", asked Minato.

"Well, Hokage-dono. In my opinion, both performed wonderfully. That Itachi boy surely knew when he was outclassed in strength and searched for ways to defeat his enemies. At the same time, he showed promise in nin- and genjutsu. Akatsuchi, on the other hand, showed great promise in taijutsu, especially with the " **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** ". He also did his best to negate the Sharingan by creating clones to attack the blindspots of the Uchiha kid. He followed a simple rule, 'When facing a Sharingan user alone, retreat or surrender. When in twos, one shall take the back.' So, in short, I would recommend both of them for chūnin already!", declared the Kazekage.

"Thank you, Kazekage-dono, and I agree with both your suggestions. Do we all agree on promoting Akatsuchi and Uchiha Itachi to chūnin?", asked Minato the whole gathering of village leaders. They all agreed and Fotane motioned for the next match to begin.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

"Would Deidara of Iwagakure and Take of Kusagakure, please find themselves in the arena for Fight Five of Round One?", asked Chimi with increased volume.

Both Deidara and Take quickly entered the arena. Take was a young male shinobi with short, straight, black hair and green eyes. He wore the standard Kusagakure shinobi attire without a flak jacket and beige shinobi sandals. Meanwhile, Deidara's only change in attire was that his pouches seemed a little bigger and fuller than beforehand.

They stood a few yards apart with Deidara's hands slowly nearing his hip pouches, while Take's hands seemingly did the same. After asking if they're both ready, Chimi began the match, "Fight Five of Round One, BEGIN!"

Deidara jumped back while plunging his hands inside his hip pouches and pulled out two globs of a white substance. On closer inspection, one could see that the substance had the properties of clay. He held them both in his hands and smirked, "You will be the first to experience my art in this exam! For my art is something beautiful that reaches its height in existence when it is about to perish explosively. For true art is only existent for a few moments before making room for new art, hn!", shouted Deidara he held his hands up, besides his head, and showed Take the globs of clay. Then creepily enough from underneath the clay a tongue carved out its way to completely pull it into its hand mouth. Deidara did gain a tick mark when he heard Aiko, unbeknownst to him, shout out, "Yucks!", making the whole stadium snicker.

Take not wanting his opponent to finish… whatever he was doing, reached into his hip pouches as well. He pulled out a multitude of senbon needles out, all dripping in a pale greenish liquid. He threw them with deadly accuracy at his opponent who dodged as best he could but was ultimately scratched at his left arm. Deidara immediately felt his left arm numbing and unresponsive to his commands. He clicked his tongue and noticed that, for some reason, his mouth in the left hand didn't stop chewing. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he continued working on his clay, ' _Almost finished only a few more moments, then I'll show him the extent of my art, hn!_ ', thought Deidara to himself, also slowly noticing that his left shoulder was starting to numb as well, ' _That stupid poison, it annoys me to no end, hn!_ '

Take continued to throw senbon at Deidara who dodged every single one of them, much to Deidara's delight. Noticing that his right-hand mouth had finished chewing the clay, he smirked. It spat out the clay and Deidara formed the clay with one hand. Once finished he opened his palm to reveal two beautifully shaped birds with four wings each. Deidara jumped to his left flank and threw the birds at Take. Even though he was confused by the birds, Take did not want to find out what they could do. Deidara held up his right hand in a half Ram seal and grunted, making the birds poof in a small cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the birds have grown a little in size and started to quickly flap their wings, taking off at neck-breaking speeds. The sped towards Take who jumped to his side to dodge one bird while hitting the other with a few senbon causing it to detonate prematurely. ' _So they explode when hit and he can most likely also detonate them at wish. Well, it looks like I'm fighting one of the holders of Iwagakure's Bakuton Kekkei Genkai._ ', thought Take to himself patting himself mentally on the shoulder for remembering the fact that he knew the Kekkei Genkai.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked around for the other bird. It seemingly disappeared. He looked back at Deidara and saw him following something from above downwards with his pupil. Looking up he saw the clay bird in a nosedive, quickly approaching Take, "It is too late to dodge now! Experience my art. because art is an EXPLOSION!", shouted Deidara as his hand formed half a Ram seal once again and he shouted, " **Katsu!** "

The bird exploded in an explosion, easily double the size of a normal exploding tag. During the explosion, Deidara also swung his left arm with a formed animal behind his back, since he couldn't move it freely. When the dust of the explosion cleared, Take emerged from the small crater. His clothes were singed and he had light burns on his legs and more serve ones at his arms since he protected his head with his arms from the explosion. He was also breathing heavily, having expended a large amount of chakra to toughen up his skin to take less damage during the explosion. Take took a deep breath and opened his mouth emitting a dark green cloud of poisonous gas, thinking, ' _ **Dokugiri**_ '. Deidara placed his elbow as quick as possible in front of his mouth and nose but wasn't quick enough and ended up inhaling some of the gas. The effects were immediate and Deidara felt all his muscles suddenly cramp and he unceremoniously fell to the ground with his face upwards. The still slightly exhausted Take approached Deidara, "You don't have to try. It is my most efficient paralysis poison." He positioned a kunai at Deidara's throat, "Surrender!"

Yet he didn't expect Deidara to smirk widely, "Oh I wouldn't be so sure, hn!" Take then noticed that his right hand, which was resting on Deidara's chest to support his own weight, slowly sunk into his chest. This was also the moment Deidara's whole body turned a pure white. ' _ **Nendo Bunshin**_ _? But when?_ ', then it hit him during the explosion of the first bird, he lost sight of Deidara for some time. He tried pulling his hand out of Deidara's chest but it didn't budge. Slowly Deidara rose out of the ground via, " **Doton: Moruragakure no Jutsu** ". Deidara's real form smirked, "I would advise you to forfeit now or you will be blown to pieces, hn." But Take didn't seem to take the advice, "I won't surrender! Surrendering is the cowards way out!", shouted Take back while simultaneously thinking, ' _Well, except if you're a support-type ninja like a medic-nin…_ '

Deidra shrugged with his shoulders and grinned, "Then you will become my first piece of art in the exams! Because art is an explosion!" shouted Deidara and immediately brought up his right hand in a half Ram seal and shouted, " **Katsu!** "

The clone exploded in an explosion easily dwarfing the first two. Deidara stood there comically shedding a tear at the 'beauty of his art'. When the dust cleared once again, Deidara expected a corpse to lie there. Yet upon closer inspection, he saw only the remnants of a wooden log lie there. He widened his eyes and turned around just in time to receive three senbon needles in his right leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Deidara looked up to see the heavy breathing and sweating form of Take there before him, standing on wobbly legs due to exhaustion, "This match is over, surrender now! We both don't have any more chakra left and you're in the disadvantageous position!" And this was the truth, as Deidara was also breathing quite heavily, although still lighter than Take, and was also sweating quite profusely. But this statement unwillingly gave Deidara some information that ensured his victory, ' _I see he is out of chakra and wants to make me surrender because of my bad position.. well, bad for him I still have a little surprise for him._ ', thought Deidara while developing a new smirk.

"You're quite right on everything, except one fact…", Take rose an eyebrow and subsequently narrowed his eyes, "Yes I don't have any chakra left to create another clay figure… but-" and just as Deidara said the but a clay centipede shot out of the ground beneath Take and tied him up, preventing him from performing any movement. Take looked shocked and saw Deidara move his right hand to a half Ram seal for the last time. Deidara then continued, "-but I still have enough chakra to detonate an already existing clay figure.", Deidara smirk grew by the second. There were two options for Take. Option One, surrender and perhaps become promoted to chūnin due to good performance or Option Two, get blown to pieces by this art fanatic. Take sighed defeated and spoke to the proctor, "Proctor, I forfeit. I'm all out of chakra and I certainly don't want to be blown to pieces by this art fanatic." The proctor nodded and announced the winner while Deidara was shouting at Take that his art was pure perfection and that he was no fanatic, just a lover of extravagant art. "The winner of Fight Five of Round One is Deidara of Iwagakure!", shouted Chimi throughout the whole stadium.

The whole stadium erupted in cheers, especially the children who found the explosions fascinating and cool. Deidara managed a small smile due to his exhaustion and headed towards the medic bay to get his chakra refueled, ' _I'm really lucky this guy didn't force me to try anything above C1! I still can't really control my C2 explosives… Man, after these exams I gotta train harder…_ ', thought Deidara as he left the arena.

* * *

 **Kage box**

"That was quite the show, Tsuchikage-dono. That genin of yours, although quite eccentric, seems really skilled for his age.", praised Minato with Rasa agreeing. Meanwhile, Ōnoki was happy that another of his genin managed to advance to the second round. He was too lost in his own thoughts to even notice the ramblings of the other Kage.

"You think his heart stopped beating?", asked Rasa playfully.

With an amused smile, Minato answered, "No, I think he's shocked to see another one of his genin pass the exam… It's hard to get happy messages at his age."

Even Fotane joined in. His translator spoke Fotane's thoughts, "I think he's only happy that his back isn't hurting right now." This caused the Kages around Ōnoki to snicker at his expense.

This caused the Kage's to laugh and knock Ōnoki out of his thoughts, "Were you all just making fun of me?", asked Ōnoki with dangerously narrowed eyes. His suspicions were only confirmed when the other Kages and Fotane sarcastically remarked, "We would never do such an atrocious thing. I mean making fun of an old man that should already give up his title to the next person..."

Ōnoki sighed, "Screw you all. Now to the topic at hand, chūnin promotion proposals."

"I would recommend both of them for chūnin. They showed incredible promise and would be great additions to your respective villages, Tsuchikage-dono, Fotane-dono.", judged Minato regaining his more serious attitude.

"I agree with Hokage-dono, do you, Tsuchikage-dono, Fotane-dono?", both agreed and Fotane motioned for the last fight of the round to commence.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Onee-chan is up, yippie!", chirped Aiko not even attempting to hide her excitement at seeing another one of her siblings showing off the power of Konoha, not that Aiko knew that purpose of the exams.

"Yes, I'm excited as well, Aiko-chan, but for now calm down see, Kimiko-chan is already entering the arena!", said Kushina as she saw her eldest daughter enter the arena.

"Let's see what you taught your daughter and my student, Kushi-chan.", said Mikoto with a smile at seeing another one of her students most likely dominate her fight.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

As Kimiko entered everyone could see her new look. Her normally free scarlet hair, now was bound together in a high ponytail, reaching down to her mid-back with two bangs framing her face. Would it be free it would easily reach down to her butt but it was only free when not on missions now. She now wore a brick red sleeveless shirt, a pair of black pants, blue heeled shinobi sandals, fingerless gloves with a metal plate at the back of the hand, a white obi keeping her shirt and pants together, and grey ANBU-style wristguards. Her forehead protector sat on her forehead. Her katana was slung on her back in a beautiful sheath.

She took her spot on the field and waited a few minutes until her opponent entered the arena. Surredō was wearing attire specialized for warfare in the desert. He had very pale green short hair, which spiked at the back of his head. His eyes also had the same shade of green in them. On his back was a large bandaged… thing.

Kimiko reminded herself that her opponent was a puppeteer, ' _According to Nii-san, puppeteers are long-range fighters and thus weak in taijutsu… Additionally, those puppets have all kinds of hidden weapons and can be moved and weaponized even after being dismembered, although that requires more skill to do. Unlucky for him that I'm good in both long and close range combat._ ', thought Kimiko to herself, entering a kind of battle mode, like Naruto likes to do, to shove away distractions from her mind.

Surredō stood in across from Kimiko waiting for the match to begin. He was already reaching behind his back to unwrap his puppet. A puppet made by none other than Akasuna no Sasori himself, Crow.

Chimi looked between the genin and saw both of them ready, "Fight Six of Round One. Let the fight BEGIN!", shouted Chimi and jumped back to safety.

Surredō immediately pulled the puppet from his back, which automatically unwrapped itself from inside the bandages. He quickly attached chakra strings to the puppet via the ' **Kugutsu no Jutsu** '. He waited for Kimiko to make a move.

Kimiko simply drew her katana. They stared at one another waiting for the other to make a move. Increasingly becoming more frustrated with the lack of action from his opponent, Surredō sought to make the first move. His left index finger twitched a little and the mouth of Crow opened. Another finger twitch and a plethora of senbon needles were shot in the direction of Kimiko, all of them dipped into a deadly poison. Not that it mattered to Kimiko. Since her chakra was so similar to Senju Hashirama's, her chakra also had the same properties, thus granting her the powerful regeneration of Hashirama. Such a simple poison could not hurt her. That didn't mean she wanted to get hit since it still hurt her and the regeneration still took quite some chakra from her still developing chakra reserves.

She danced around all of the projectiles, not getting hit even once. When the storm of needles finally ended she sped forward at high genin speeds. Her katana was held in a reverse grip in her right hand. Once she was about five yards away from the puppet, her speed suddenly increased, reaching high chūnin, bordering low jōnin speeds. She moved too fast for the civilian population to witness but for the shinobi population, it was still visible. Nonetheless, it was impressive to see a genin this fast. She reappeared behind both Surredō and Crow. Her katana was now held above her left shoulder behind her head. She then whispered, " **Zankō** ".

Surredō couldn't believe his eyes as he saw his puppet fall to pieces after she whispered the name of her technique, as well as the appearance of a large cut along his right arm. He gripped his right arm and created distance between them once again. He reattached his chakra strings at the multitude of single pieces of his puppet and commanded them to himself. These parts were forearms, arms, legs, and even the head of the puppet. Out of all the joints then came hidden blades into view. All dripping with the same purple liquid the senbons were drenched in. He positioned them around himself to prevent Kimiko from engaging him in taijutsu or kenjutsu.

Kimiko though only smirked and performed the Tiger hand seal and shouted, " **Suiton: Teppōdama** ". After announcing her jutsu, her cheeks puffed outwards, being filled with water. Quickly kneading enough chakra to perform the jutsu she shot a dozen average sized water bullets at Surredō, all not being aimed at him but rather the single pieces of the puppet that protected him. When he realized how outclassed he was, seeing as how his puppet was made useless in only a few moments. Yet, before he could attempt to surrender Kimiko's fist was buried in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He skidded backwards along the ground until finally colliding with the arena wall. The wall now had a Surredō sized crater in the wall. Slowly, his unconscious form slowly stumbled out of the wall, falling face first into the dirt.

Chimi chuckled at the efficiency, that Kimiko used to finish her match as quickly as possible as well as giving as little information about her skills as possible. All her opponents knew about her was that she could be fast, used a single suiton jutsu and has a katana.

"Winner of Fight Six of Round One; Namikaze Kimiko!", announced Chimi and broke the audience out of their shocked expressions. Cheers were heard all over the stadium, cheering for the quick and efficient finish. Kimiko chuckled to herself and went to return to the contestant's box.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Wow, Kaa-chan did you see that? Onee-chan blinked forward and then... whoosh… and she was behind him and then his doll fell apart. And then Onee-chan spewed out water and hit him so hard he flew away.", recited Aiko in such an excited manner that she tried to imitate the sound effects of the battle as best she could and tried to imitate the fight itself as well.

Kushina smiled warmly at her youngest, "Yes I did, Aiko-chan. Your Onee-chan did very well, she will most likely be promoted just like your Onii-chan."

Aiko smiled a megawatt smile of the century at the prospect of being able to brag about how cool her siblings were when she entered the academy.

* * *

 **Kage box**

"Hokage-dono… are you trying to create another Kushina or what?", asked Rasa with a deadpan expression on his face. He already had the 'pleasure' once to meet Kushina in an enraged state. Safe to say the only thing that protected Rasa this day, was his Jiton Kekkei Genkai coupled with his gold dust.

"I assure you, Kazekage-dono, that my eldest daughter only idolizes her mother. Also, if we were to have to Kushina's in the compound me and my son would most likely not survive all that long.", joked Minato.

Rasa chuckled and even Ōnoki let out a little snicker, more at the prospect of the most hated person of his village being violated at home. "Well, to come to the decision of chūnin promotions!", began Ōnoki, "That Surredō looked completely helpless as soon as his puppet was destroyed. He seems overly reliant on this single weapon. He needs to further his horizon to become an effective shinobi and chūnin."

"I agree with Tsuchikage-dono, Kazekage-dono.", said Minato.

"I understand and agree as well. He isn't ready to become a team leader if he is reliant on only one skill. But your daughter on the other hand… she performed astoundingly. She finished the fight quickly and did not show many of her skills, like a true shinobi she first 'worsened' her own skills, to make him feel a false sense of security. Then at the last moment used her true skills to cripple her opponent's offense as well as defense. Remarkable.", praised Rasa.

Meanwhile, Ōnoki was just grumbling to himself saying something along the lines of 'stupid Namikaze and their geniuses…'

"Who agrees on promoting Namikaze Kimiko to chūnin?", asked the translator of Fotane as all the Kage raised their hands, although Ōnoki only did so begrudgingly.

"Fotane-dono? As far as I remember, there is a thirty-minute break due now, right?", asked Minato at which Fotane nodded, "Well then I'm going talk to my wife a little.", with that said Minato left the Kage box.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

"The next Round of Matches will continue in half an hour. Please find yourself back five minutes past the time limit at the latest!", said Chimi as she joined some Kusa jōnin-senseis for the duration of the break. During the break, some chūnin were also repairing the damage done to the arena during the first batch of matches.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"...so did you enjoy the fights up until now?", asked a voice behind Kushina.

She and Aiko turned around to see Minato standing there. Kushina smiled at her husband while Aiko was trying to imitate the cool moves of her Onii-chan and Onee-chan once again. Aiko then exclaimed how excited she was to see both of them fight again.

"Now that's the spirit, Aiko-chan!", praised Minato causing Aiko to blush a bit in embarrassment. They talked about the fights for the rest of the thirty minutes until Minato had to return to the Kage box. Before they departed Minato and Kushina kissed quickly causing Aiko to state her disgust, "Yucks…"

Kushina then smirked evilly to herself, "Oh you don't like it? Well, then how about I show you how about a sample!"

Kushina then kissed Aiko on her nose, her forehead, literally everywhere on her head causing her to giggle and blush at the same time. Before Kushina could continue her torture, they heard, "Round Two is about to begin! Winner of Match One; Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure, and Winner of Match Two; Namikaze Naruto of Konohagakure, please enter the arena!"

They quickly entered the arena and stood opposite to each other. Both smirking, confident in their abilities. "Are you both ready?" inquired Chimi, receiving two nods, "Then I declare Fight One of Round Two as officially started, BEGIN!"...

* * *

 **Author note: I want to apologize for the long delay, thus I reward your patience with a longer than usual chapter! Also, the poll for the pairing has now officially ended with the release of this chapter and the winner is:**

 **Naruto x Female Uchiha Clan member!**

 **I also created another small poll that isn't so impacting on the story like the one before.**

 **I thank you all for supporting the story and I would like to hear your thoughts on the story so please review my fanfiction. I really wanna hear your feedback and what I can improve in terms of writing skills!**

 **With that said, See ya until the release of the next chapter! ^^**

* * *

" **Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu** " = " **Rock Clone Technique** "

" **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** " = " **Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique** "

" **Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu** " = " **Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique** "

" **Doton: Moruragakure no Jutsu** " = " **Hiding like a mole Technique** "

" **Fūton: Reppūshō** " = " **Wind Release: Gale Palm** "

" **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku** " = " **Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere** "

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique** "

" **Kaze no Kuni** " = " **Land of Wind** "

" **Doton: Gōremu no Jutsu** " = " **Earth Release: Golem Technique** "

" **Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique** "

" **Kai!** " = " **Release!** "

" **Katsu!** " = " **Phrase used by Deidara to detonate his exploding clay, originally used in Zen Buddhism** "

" **Dokugiri** " = " **Poison Mist** "

" **Nendo Bunshin** " = " **Clay Clone** "

" **Akasuna no Sasori** " = " **Sasori of the Red Sands** "

" **Kugutsu no Jutsu** " = " **Puppet Technique** "

" **Zankō** " = " **Afterglow** "


	8. Chūnin Exams: Part IV

**Chapter 8**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OCs I create. I firmly believe that Maito Gai stole the eyebrows of Momochi Zabuza, just like Rock Lee stole Gaara's eyebrows. You won't sway me to believe otherwise!**

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

Naruto and Kurotsuchi quickly entered the arena and stood opposite each other. Both smirking, confident in their abilities. "Are you both ready?" inquired Chimi, receiving two nods, "Then I declare Fight One of Round Two as officially started, BEGIN!"

She jumped back just in time to dodge two dozens of shurikens from both contestants. Well, to be exact Kurotsuchi was the first to throw her shurikens but Naruto's already activated Sharingan registered every single thrown shuriken and threw the exact number of shuriken to block them all. Seeing her first attack being blocked instantly Kurotsuchi resorted to trying out taijutsu before turning to ninjutsu. Thus she formed the necessary hand seals, Snake → Ram → Dog → Rat → Snake → Tiger, and shouted, " **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** ".

Letting rocks encase her fist she engaged Naruto in taijutsu. Knowing he is in matters of pure physical strength in a disadvantageous situation right now, Naruto opted to dodge every single blow of her stone fist. He managed to dodge quite a bit until she feigned a strike at his right shoulder only to then target his left. Reacting quickly to the feign, Naruto channeled chakra into the arm guard on his left forearm, hidden beneath his long sleeves. In a poof of smoke, his chokutō appeared in his left hand. He held the blade flat to block the strike. Additionally, he started to channel his wind chakra into the blade to make it more durable, while at the same time moving his right hand behind the tip of the blade to better hold out against Kurotsuchi's physical prowess.

It all happened so quickly that Kurotsuchi didn't even have a chance to evade the block and hit her target. While trying to overpower him and his chokutō, she almost met his gaze with her own. Quickly looking back down at his chest, Kurotsuchi decided that this physical exchange was slowly growing into a disadvantage for her. Not only did he have a sword now but she was also unable to meet his eyes to really discern what his movements would be. ' _This is getting annoying… I guess it is time for some ninjutsu. Hopefully, I won't have to reveal my Kekkei Genkai yet._ ', thought Kurotsuchi to herself as she prepared to use ninjutsu but had to jump away as Naruto appeared before her and slashed downwards at her. Having already released the " **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** ", Kurotsuchi pulled out a kunai and tried to block the swing. She quickly noticed that blocking his slashes was for naught as his chokutō easily cut through her kunai like it was warm butter.

Seeing the light blue hue on his blade and hearing a light hum, Kurotsuchi noted that he was channeling chakra through his blade, ' _So he uses "_ _ **Chakura Tō**_ " _to increase his chokutō's overall sharpness and durability. Smart move…_ ', thought Kurotsuchi to herself as she somersaulted backwards multiple times to create distance between herself and Naruto. Already sensing that any more attempts to engage her in close quarter combat would be useless, he resealed his chokutō in his left arm guard. He then saw her mould quite the amount of chakra, with his Sharingan, and began to mould the exact same amount as she did since he recognized it as fire natured chakra he would be able to copy her move.

She sped through hand seals, which were almost invisible to the civilian population, while quite fast for the shinobi population, and at the same time slow for Naruto's Sharingan. He instantly copied her exact movements, Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger, and both shouted, " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** ". Both breathed out a huge fireball that met in the middle between them, both trying to overpower the other. The collision of fire soon exploded and brought up a cloud of dust. Kurotsuchi held her arm in front of her eyes to protect them from the dust. When the cloud of dust settled down again, she slowly removed her arm and opened her eyes again only to see defeat. Naruto stood right in front of her with his Sharingan gazing deep into her eyes. She only had a second to realize what happened and think, ' _Shit!_ ' before she heard a whisper, " **Iatsu Sharingan** ".

She was immediately pulled into a grotesque, nightmarish world of red with black outlines. Above her was a crude image of a three-tomoe Sharingan. Around her were outlines of some kinds of demons and slaughters. She tried to close or avert her eyes but both options failed her as she somehow wasn't able to close her eyes and wherever she looked she only saw the same pictures all over again. She began to shake and sweat from the nightmarish depictions of slaughters and tears started to form in the corners of her eyes after all she was only ten at the time, just like Naruto. But before she could lose her consciousness she heard a somewhat apologetic and soothing voice, "Don't fall unconscious just yet. You will lose otherwise. This is the perfect chance to prove that you can endure such torture. You will thank me later on in your life. Also, this genjutsu has a safe-fail as once you lose consciousness, all memories of this genjutsu will be deleted from your memory." She sighed a sigh of relief but was still shaking since she wasn't able to resist the horrors of this genjutsu. She forced her still shocked body to move her hands into the Ram seal and shouted, " **Kai!** ". The world around her started to crumble away until she once again saw her opponent with his Sharingan eyes activated a few yards away from her.

During the duration of the genjutsu, the stadium was confused. When the dust settled they only saw Naruto a few inches away from Kurotsuchi, deeply looking her in the eyes. They remained in this position for a few seconds until they saw all of Kurotsuchi's muscles tensing up. She then started to sweat as Naruto turned around and walked away for a bit and faced her again. After the sweat, she started to shake uncontrollably and tears formed in her eyes. Naruto still looked at her indifferently, although Kimiko could identify a small apologetic look on the face of her twin. Soon after Kurotsuchi let out a gasp and fell to her knees, looking up at Naruto who just stood there, motionless.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Kaa-chan why didn't Onii-chan finish the fight right there?", asked Aiko confused.

"Well, it seems he got more from the Sharingan than just the eyes. He seems to want a good fight. Normally, that is an attitude carried by many Uchiha, mostly in conjunction with arrogance, but your Onii-chan seemingly just enjoys the feeling of the fight itself.", answered Kushina her daughter.

Aiko formed an "o" with her mouth and continued to cheer her brother on, which made Kushina smile at her and her other two children. Meanwhile, both Sasuke and Mikoto glared at Kushina, who returned it with a smile.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

Kurotsuchi slowly stood up again. Her knees were still wobbly from the nightmarish experience but were getting better by the second. Once she regained her full height, she observed her opponent, ' _He could've finished me… but why didn't he? Could it be that he wants to give me a chance? No, why would he I'm from Iwagakure and he is from Konohagakure. It would be illogical… Ahh, this is too frustrating to think about! Nevertheless, I can't hold back anymore, he has a better tactical mind than me._ '

She ran forward while forming two hand seals, Tiger → Rat, and shouted " **Yōton: Kaisekifū no Jutsu** ". Kurotsuchi then spewed out a thick cloud of ash which completely encased Naruto. The ash hardened on contact with Naruto's body and held him in place. He made a few attempts to break out but quickly relented. Kurotsuchi approached him and held a kunai at his throat, "You should've finished me when you had the chance and now you've lost. Forfeit now or die!"

When Kurotsuchi expected fear she received none, only a smirk, "I'm sorry. Sometimes my excitement in battle overpowers my rational sense of thinking… but you're right it is over… almost!" Naruto's cheeks then inflated. Before Kurotsuchi could stop him he spewed out large amounts of burning ash that covered the whole arena, while thinking ' _ **Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu**_ '. She covered her eyes for a second but immediately opened them again and saw Naruto missing from his ashen prison. The heat from the ash singed her clothes and dealt first degree burns to her arms since they were protecting her face. When the ash settled they could see a coughing Kurotsuchi with light burns and singed clothes who was looking around to spot her opponent.

Behind her with his chokutō placed at her neck stood Naruto with lightly singed clothes from his ashen prison. He was breathing rather harshly yet he still couldn't keep himself from smiling slightly, ' _This jutsu still takes far too much chakra than it should… but it worked so I won't complain._ ', thought Naruto to himself as his blade slightly touched Kurotsuchi neck. She tensed up and slowly turned her head around to spot her opponent behind her, "Forfeit the match, Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure, or forfeit your life!", threatened Naruto which was accentuated by his Sharingan. She was breathing even heavier than Naruto was. Her yōton jutsu took a lot of chakra at her age and control so she used it as a last resort to win but that plan seemed to have failed. She let out a heavy breath and fell down to one knee, "I guess I lost… huh?", she smiled as did Naruto although his smile was smaller than hers, "Yes you did, Kurotsuchi."

"You did better than expected… for a Treehugger.", she shot teasingly.

Naruto chuckled a bit, "You did better than expected as well... for a Rocklover.", he shot back just as teasingly.

"That was a bad… comeback", commented Kurotsuchi.

She then closed her eyes and fell unconscious, "Winner of Fight One of Round Two: Namikaze Naruto of Konohagakure!"

The whole stadium once again erupted in loud cheers at the fight and the winner. They also cheered for the loser of the battle since she fought so valiantly and both delivered the audience a good fight.

Naruto turned around and left while smiling a little wider, "I know."

* * *

 **Kage box**

"It seems your son has entered the finals, Hokage-dono.", commented Rasa, "You must be proud of him."

"I'm not only proud of him.", began Minato with a smile, "I'm proud of all my children no matter what they'll do with their life. Because that's a parents job!"

Rasa rubbed his chin and thought about his youngest born child, ' _Perhaps… I should be more open to him and not resent him like the village does…_ '

"But that's not to downplay Kurotsuchi, she fought quite well. Definitely well enough to become a chūnin, do you all agree, Kazekage-dono, Tsuchikage-dono, Fotane-dono?", asked Minato.

Ōnoki just grunted, disappointed that his granddaughter didn't move on to the finals, Fotane just nodded and Rasa voiced his agreement, "I do agree, Hokage-dono. I also recommend your son to become chūnin. I'm sure he has shown enough prowess to justify his promotion!"

Every Kage nodded at this, although Ōnoki would've rather killed himself than admit that the Namikaze's brat was better than his offspring's offspring.

Without even needing to remind him the guard already went to notify Chimi to start the next match.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Kaa-chan, Onii-chan is the best! He is, without a doubt, the best fighter here!", declared Aiko proudly. She already saw Sasuke take in a breath to argue but she spoke before he had a chance, "Shut it Sasuke-teme! Onii-chan is the best. No argument!"

Sasuke scoffed and turned his head around, while both Mikoto and Kushina chuckled, "They're just like we were in the academy. Don't you agree, Kushina-chan?"

"Yes, they are, Mikoto-chan.", answered Kushina while ruffling Aiko's hair, "I must say you trained my son quite well, Mikoto."

"Well… he was already quite trained beforehand but he has improved even more in the last month than in the last few before the exam.", answered Mikoto but before she could continue they heard a voice from behind, "Well, he is quite the prodigy isn't he?"

The voice startled both females and they turned around just to see Kakashi sitting behind them, "Holy shit, how long have you been here, Kakashi?", asked Kushina as she was the first to break out of the shock. "I've been here before you two arrived here…", answered Kakashi with a deadpan expression.

"Man, you're inconspicuous, Kakashi.", replied Mikoto making Kakashi's head fall down a few inches with some kind of miniature rain cloud forming above his head, visualizing his current depression.

Sasuke quickly lost interest in the conversation between the adults and returned his gaze back onto the arena where he saw Itachi already standing opposite to his opponent, "Kaa-chan, Nii-san is about to fight!", told Sasuke his mother.

She looked back to the arena and did see her eldest son already there. She straightened herself in the chair and started to observe the coming match closely.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

"Fight Two of Round Two; Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure versus Koishi of Sunagakure, are both contestants ready?", asked Chimi looking at both contestants. Receiving two nods she began the match, "Then I announce the match as officially started, BEGIN!", she quickly jumped out of the way after her announcement.

Black iron sand started to leak out of the hip pouches of Koishi and enveloped Koishi in a protecting manner, "You should forfeit now, you can't win against my overwhelming power! I have basically become the second coming of Sandaime Kazekage-sama!", announced Koishi hoping to get a rise out of Itachi. Yet, all he received was Itachi's usual emotionless gaze, which was accentuated by his Sharingan giving Itachi a rather intimidating look. Koishi clicked his tongue, "Very well if you don't surrender willingly then I'll have to force you to!"

Koishi held up the Ram hand seal and shouted, " **Satetsu Shigure** ". His protecting cloak of iron sand formed thousands of small bullets all aimed at Itachi, "I guess it's your funeral, any last words?"

He saw Itachi not even acknowledge his attack with a bored gaze and heard three words which infuriated him to no end, "You already lost." Koishi mentally willed the iron sand to perforate Itachi. Soon enough Itachi's corpse laid in front of him, "And I told you to surrender… What a shame but no one can defeat the Sandaime Kazekage's power… my power!"

Slowly but surely Itachi's supposed corpse started to turn black and a flock of crows flew out of his body, completely disintegrating it. The flock of crows then found themselves together once again, this time in two separate bodies, effectively creating two Itachi's who now stood before Koishi. Koishi thought, ' _When did he create a "_ _ **Karasu Bunshin**_ " _?_ ' He willed his sand to return to him as Itachi and his clone both drew their tantō. They slowly began closing in on Koishi, who in turn slowly walked backwards to keep his distance. Koishi tried again and again to destroy Itachi and his clones but every time he destroyed one, two would almost instantly take his place, instantly surrounding him from all sides.

Finally having enough of this he willed all his iron sand to form spears to skewer all of the Itachi's at the same time, ' _One of them has to be the original… so if I destroy them all at once, he should be defeated as well!_ ' Just as he finished that thought his iron sand spears flew away from him piercing through vital organs of all the Itachi's. He expected them all except for one to disintegrate into crows and disappear but all of them became flocks of crows and circled around him, disorienting him. Suddenly, all crows came to a stop, hovering around him, only to then speed towards him. ' _If all of them were clones… then it's genjutsu!_ '

Quickly bringing his hands up in the Ram seal he released the genjutsu with a cry of, " **Kai!** " Slowly all the crows around him deformed into shurikens flying towards him. Thinking quickly he willed his sand to form a wall between himself and the spiky stars with a shout of, " **Satetsu no Kabe** ". All shuriken deflected off the iron sand, while at the same time magnetizing them all to use them as weapons for himself as well, using the " **Satetsu no Mākingu** ". As such when even only one of the shuriken hit Itachi, he would be marked as well and he would only have to create weapons and not have to aim anymore.

"I didn't expect you to actually break out of that genjutsu… deplorable… Well, I guess it is time to start the match then, am I right?", somewhat stated and taunted Itachi. Koishi quickly lifted all the shuriken around him with the help of his Jiton Kekkei Genkai. He then willed them to fly at Itachi, who registered all of them as well as the iron sand on them, ' _I see he wants to hit me with one and transfer the iron sand onto me… Clever, but not clever enough those shuriken and your iron sand are susceptible to my specialty, katon jutsu!_ '

Finishing that thought, some beforehand invisible ninja wire appeared in Itachi's hand. He pulled on them and all shuriken suddenly disobeyed Koishi's mental commands and tied him together, making him unable to move. To further immobilize him, the shuriken all plunged themselves into the ground around Koishi. All the iron sand around him and on the shuriken fell off due to his now broken concentration.

Itachi brought the ninja wire up to his mouth, holding it with his teeth and forming hand seals, Snake → Dragon → Rabbit → Tiger, he brought the ninja wire between his fingers, and shouted, " **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu** ".

Itachi breathed out a small burst of flame. The flames followed the ninja wire to their target, and once they arrived they exploded in a huge flame, completely engulfing the Suna genin. Fear was evident on Koishi's face as his face contorted in horror and his eyes widened. Cries of pain were heard all over the stadium, even though Itachi powered down his jutsu to avoid killing his opponent, it still hurt like hell to be burnt alive.

Soon after the flames and the cries of pain died down and one could see Koishi. He had third-degree burns on his arms and legs and second-degree burns on his torso. His head was more or less protected from the flames as he was able to erect a protective barrier of iron sand in front of his head.

Itachi could see that Koishi was struggling to hold onto his consciousness but was failing. The last sound he was able to make before fainting was, "Seems like I lost…" He fell face first in the dirt and the match was called in favor of Itachi, "Winner of Fight Two of Round Two; Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure!"

The crowd cheered for Itachi but were also a bit fearful of Itachi at first since he almost burned one of the genin to a crisp. But that was quickly forgotten as Itachi bowed before the unconscious form of Koishi and spoke, "You fought well and would've won if you wouldn't have set yourself boundaries as you did with your arrogance and your comparison to the Sandaime Kazekage…", with that said, Itachi left the arena.

* * *

 **Kage box**

"Another victory for you Hokage-dono. I must admit you got yourself quite the shinobi down there!", grinned Rasa at his Konoha counterpart.

Minato sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I guess they are…"

Ōnoki just continued to brood in the corner of the Kage box and grumble something incomprehensible.

Minato noticed this and tried to comfort the man that hated his very guts more than everything in the world, "Come now, Ōnoki you still have one shinobi in the race. Not everything is lost yet."

Surprisingly, that actually somewhat lifted Ōnoki's spirit… at least until Rasa spoke up again and smirked at Ōnoki, "Or your daughter will defeat the Iwa shinobi and it will be a Konoha exclusive final, making Konoha more attractive to send their missions to."

Right after this statement Ōnoki immediately returned to his sulking. Minato turned his accusing gaze to the Kazekage who was peacefully whistling tunes in the air. Sighing, to himself Minato just slumped back on his seat. ' _This is getting annoying…_ ', thought Minato to himself before returning his gaze back to the arena where his eldest daughter already waited for her opponent.

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Congratulations, Mikoto-chan, your son has also entered the finals. Wait… if Kimiko-chan also wins her fight now, it would be a free-for-all between all members of Team 2. Now that would be something to watch.", commented Kushina while playing with Aiko's hair. Speaking of Aiko she couldn't wait for another one of her siblings to fight. In her opinion, her siblings were the strongest individuals in the world. She absolutely adored her siblings but her big brother would always be her favorite. Not only would he allow her to sleep in his bed when she had nightmares but he would also push her to find solutions for problems herself by giving small pieces of advice until she found her solution. Afterwards, he would only need to explain to her how to exactly her theoretical solution would be implemented. She truly loved her brother the most from all her family members, still closely followed by all others.

"Look Kaa-chan, Onee-chan is there!", suddenly said Aiko knocking Kushina out of her conversation with Mikoto.

And true to her statement, Kimiko stood in the middle of the arena waiting for her opponent patiently. Well, as patiently as an Uzumaki woman can, meaning she had at least five tick marks on her forehead and her hair started to ominously float behind her. One could hear several gulps throughout the whole stadium coming from Naruto, Kakashi, and Minato. Naruto because there was a big chance that he would have to fight his sister during the finals and she was already angry, Kakashi because she looked ready to rip apart any male being with her female fury. Funnily enough, Kakashi even moved to hide his Icha Icha Paradise book more deeply in his pocket out of instinct. And lastly, Minato gulped because his daughter looked an awfully lot like his wife when she is about to explode.

* * *

 **Stadium arena**

' _I can't believe the nerves of this Iwa shinobi! All of Nii-san's and Itachi's opponents came on time… and OF COURSE, MY OPPONENT IS AS TARDY AS KAKASHI-NII!_ ', thought Kimiko coming closer and closer to her boiling point.

Fortunately, for the audience and the present Kages and daimyōs, Deidara entered the arena with a smirk evident on his face. The smirk faltered slightly when he saw Kimiko with her female fury adorning her being.

He reformed his smirk and took his place in front of her, hoping she would stay this angry during the fight to make her more susceptible to taunts and such. Unfortunately for him, the moment he stood in front of her, she entered her battle mode and suppressed her anger, waiting for the proctor to start the match. But even though she suppressed her anger, she would still beat him to a bloody pulp for making her wait so long. Whole three minutes, and twenty-seven seconds.

The proctor approached both contestants, quite pleased from when she heard the gulps in the audience when they witnessed this contestant's female fury. She noticed that both of them were eager to begin the fight, thus she didn't need to ask them if they're ready. "Fight Three of the Second Round may now BEGIN!", shouted Chimi before retreating.

Deidara pulled out a pre-chewed clay bird from his pocket and formed a Ram seal. The bird erupted in a poof of smoke. It grew to a size where Deidara could easily stand on it and fly above Kimiko. And he did just that. He jumped atop the bird and it took off, out of Kimiko's reach. Once he was out of reach for Kimiko he took out a bag. He opened the bag and pulled out the contents with both hands. His hands were now filled with small clay insects, mostly spiders, and grasshoppers. If possible his smirk grew even bigger and he began to mumble, "You will all learn to appreciate my art…", his voice became louder, "You will all learn the beauty of my art…", he threw the little critters down the bird making it rain clay. Finally, he shouted, "BECAUSE ART IS AN EXPLOSION, HN!" With that said he formed a Ram seal and shouted, " **Katsu!** "

The whole arena was littered with small explosions, effectively covering the whole ground with explosions. There was silence as dust filled the arena. Aiko was gripping the railing, furiously searching for her sister. She was fearing the worst and tears threatened to be spilled when she still hadn't found her sister. She looked at her mother and saw her with a smile, "Don't worry Aiko-chan… your sister is even more durable than I am." She finished her sentence with a little wink.

Back down in the arena the dust finally started to settle. When it did finally settle the ninja populations eyes were as big as saucers, and even some civilians who have studied shinobi history had wide eyes. The place where Kimiko stood before was now encased in a wooden dome. Slowly, the dome opened up to reveal an unharmed Kimiko with several wooden spears. "That was closer than expected.", said Kimiko to herself.

* * *

 **Flashback, shortly before the explosions**

 _Just when Deidara finished his rant, he threw down what looked like little white drops. 'Wait white drops?! His clay is white… SHIT!', thought Kimiko to herself as she focussed her '_ _ **Kanchi no Jutsu**_ ' _on the little white drops and sensed the chakra in them. 'Dammit, I have to reveal it now!', thought Kimiko._

 _She sped through hand seals, Rat → Dog → Tiger, she mumbled quietly, "_ _ **Mokuton: Mokujōheki**_ " _. From her left and right pillars of wood erupted and completely encased her just as the explosions took place. Sighing a sigh of relief she formed the Ram hand seal, "I have to do something about this stupid bird… luckily I have just the solution." Moulding her chakra she said, "_ _ **Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu**_ " _. Out of the ground, several wooden spears grew. She smiled, "Let's see your bird deal with those…"_

 _She then heard that it became quiet outside and except for gasps in reaction to the usage of the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai. She formed a small smirk and released her jutsu._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

 **Back to the present**

She took a spear in her hand and threw it at the airborne bird, "Let's see how your 'art' deals with those!", shouted Kimiko. Deidara willed the bird to dodge the incoming projectile and proceeded to dodge all the spears that flew at him until finally one of the spears hit the left wing of his bird. The spear branched out throughout the whole wing, shredding it to pieces. Without the help of its second wing, the bird plummeted towards the ground. Deidara jumped off the bird just in time because just before the bird hit the ground it exploded in a huge explosion.

Deidara skidded on the floor due to the explosions shock wave that threw him back. He stood up again and had to immediately jump away as kunai with attached exploding tags landed right beside him. He jumped away and urged his hand mouths to chew clay again as he formed his remaining pre-chewed clay. He formed clay snakes which shot forward from his arms to his target; Kimiko. The snakes closed in on Kimiko and she jumped away to dodge them but the snakes still pursued her.

Finally having enough she drew her katana and cut off the heads of the snakes, causing them to explode. After the dust settled Deidara was nowhere in sight. She looked around her and above, not finding a single trace of him. Concentrating on her sensory capabilities she sensed around, finally finding him… right beneath her! She jumped up just as hands shot out of the ground missing her ankles only by inches. Using the " **Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu** " Deidara's head popped out of the ground, he clicked his tongue in annoyance that he didn't catch her and jumped out of the ground. Hearing the burp sound that signalizes that his clay is ready, he opened his palm to let the mouth spit out the clay. Putting his other hand back in the pouch with exploding clay, he didn't feel the earthy texture of clay inside. Looking in both pouches he noticed that he had run out of exploding clay and that the piece in his hand was the last of his exploding clay.

' _I should've packed more exploding clay or got some more during my break… I can already hear Ōnoki-sensei complain about me not being prepared properly, hn!_ ', thought Deidara while gulping when he looked up at the Kage box and saw Ōnoki with a tick mark on his wrinkly face and his eyebrow twitching furiously.

He formed the clay to resemble a centipede and hoped Kimiko wouldn't notice him secretly release it and let it dig into the ground. Thinking from seeing her expression that she didn't notice, he smirked. While she didn't see it, she did sense it through her ' **Kanchi no Jutsu** '. Subtly substituting herself with a ' **Moku Bunshin** ' she hid underground with the ' **Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu** ', she waited for Deidara to make his move.

After a few seconds of the stand-off, Deidara's smirk grew causing Kimiko's clone to narrow her eyes in mock suspicion. Suddenly, the clay centipede shot out of the ground and immobilized Kimiko. Kimiko's clone looked shocked while Deidara formed his Ram seal, "You can forfeit now or become the epitome of true art... Your choice!", declared Deidara cackling to himself.

Kimiko's clone then grew a smirk as she saw her original lay her katana at Deidara's neck, "Don't move, Deidara… you have lost." When he heard this, Deidara's eyes widened and he slowly turned his head to see Kimiko stand behind him with her katana dangerously close to his jugular vein, "One wrong move and your life is forfeit.", threatened Kimiko once again.

Deidara gulped and then sighed defeated, "Proctor, I forfeit the match!"

"Due to forfeiture from Deidara of Iwagakure, Namikaze Kimiko of Konohagakure is the winner of the final match before the finals!", announced Chimi making the crowd cheer for the winner but also the loser of the match, "We will have an hour-long break before the begin of the finals to let the finalists rest a little!", finished Chimi as Kimiko left the arena.

* * *

 **Kage box**

"Well, well, well… who would've guessed that your daughter would be able to perform jutsu from the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai? By the way, what do I get for guessing correctly that it will be a Konoha exclusive finale", asked Rasa playfully making Ōnoki grip the railing even harder in anger at his student while Minato sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Well… I can give you a coupon for the best ramen restaurant in Konoha… if you want.", said Minato while grinning sheepishly in conjunction with the sheepish rubbing of his head with his one hand and holding out a coupon with his other.

Rasa laughed heartily as he grabbed the coupon, "Well, I guess beggars can't be choosers, am I right?"

"Heh heh, I think that was my last coupon… I'm dead.", realized Minato.

This caused Rasa to laugh again while Fotane grunted a bit which was supposed to sound a bit like a chuckle. "But I must admit Hokage-dono your children and that Uchiha kid are quite talented for their age. For the whole team to enter the finals of the chūnin exams at the same time. Most impressive.", praised Rasa once again.

"Thank you, Kazekage-dono, I'm very proud of them, even though I can't spend as much time with them as I wish I could, with my Hokage duties and such. But I do my best to give them pointers every now and then.", admitted Minato, "Well, I'll go spend the break with my wife, see ya."

* * *

 **Spectator seats**

"Woah, Kaa-chan Onee-chan is amazing! She did that wood thingie that made that bird go down and explode. Did you see that?", asked Aiko excitedly making Kushina chuckle.

"Yes, Aiko-chan I did see that.", confirmed Kushina as she saw Aiko furrow her brow in concentration.

"Ehm, Kaa-chan?", began Aiko making Kushina raise an eyebrow in question, "If Onii-chan and Onee-chan now fight against each other… who do I cheer on?", she said the last bit looking deep in Kushina's eyes.

Kushina smiled at her daughter's question, which was indeed a good question and Kushina had just the perfect solution, "You can cheer for both of them. It doesn't matter for your siblings who you cheer on. They both love you more than they do even me and your father.", declared Kushina making Aiko's widen. Did they love her that much? She knew that she loved them that much but for them to return the love equally was astounding to her young mind. She then promised to herself and her siblings to make them proud and train to become just as strong as they were.

Just then Minato joined them in their conversation and also only then noticed Kakashi, who in turn fell into even deeper depressions.

* * *

 **Entrance to the arena, Fifty-five minutes later**

"You ready, Kimiko, Itachi?", asked Naruto as they all stood at the entrance of the arena only a few steps away from entering. Receiving nods from both Kimiko and Itachi he smiled, "Good luck to all of us and may the best win!", declared Naruto as he began to enter the arena.

Before following their teammate and sibling both Kimiko and Itachi had a silent conversation which was concluded by a nod from both of them.

They entered the arena and saw that it was completely restored from the battles of the second round of fights. They took their positions standing in a perfect triangle, waiting for the begin of the match. They also heard Aiko cheer on both Kimiko and Naruto while Sasuke cheers for Itachi just as loudly. This brought a smile to all of their faces making them try even harder to give their little siblings a good show of skill.

"Are you all ready for this?", asked Chimi.

"Yes, we are. We have our little siblings cheering us on we do this for them to make them proud to be our siblings!", declared Naruto only loud enough for Chimi and the rest of his team to hear.

"Very well then. Make sure to give them a good show then.", said Chimi before she turned to the audience, "The whole day of exams have played together to this single moment! The finals of this year's bi-annual chūnin selection exams! This final will be a three-way fight between, Namikaze Naruto, Namikaze Kimiko, and Uchiha Itachi all of Konohagakure no Sato! There can only be one winner. Everything goes. No holding back. Killing is allowed although I doubt you will kill each other. With that being said, I announce that this fight has now officially started, BEGIN!", shouted Chimi and jumped onto the wall of the stadium to be in the clear of the battle.

Immediately they all jumped away. Yet, Naruto did not expect to see Kimiko and Itachi stand directly next to each other, "I'm sorry Nii-san but you're the strongest out of all of us… For us to win we must first take you down.", somewhat apologized Kimiko to her twin.

Naruto merely smiled, "I understand, Nee-chan! I guess I'll just have to take you both down!", declared Naruto as his cerulean blue eyes turned a deep crimson as he activated his Sharingan.

"Big words, Nii-san. Then prove to us that we didn't miscalculate when we thought you were the strongest!", shouted Kimiko back as she and Itachi both averted their eyes to not get caught in Naruto's visual genjutsu. Even though Itachi also possesses the Sharingan, his visual prowess is weak compared to Naruto's.

This action actually made Naruto chuckle, "Nee-chan, Itachi it seems you have trained to fight without looking into my eyes…", stated Naruto smirking.

"You're correct Naruto. We were both trained to be able to fight you without sight.", answered Itachi with his emotionless voice.

"Unfortunately-", began Naruto as he slowly rose his left arm to reveal his left index finger poking out of the sleeve, "I expected as such and have sought ways to cast my visual genjutsu without sight! All I need is a single finger to cast my genjutsu!" Naruto then whispered, " **Utakata** " while smirking.

And just like stated the moment both Kimiko and Itachi looked at the finger, they were both pulled into Naruto's genjutsu and metallic stakes pierced their body, effectively paralyzing them both.

"What ' **Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu** '?! But how?", asked Kimiko forcing the painful feeling of being pierced by stakes out of her mind.

She heard Naruto voice from all around her, "As I told you both… I have found a way to use my visual genjutsu without eye-contact. I have found a way to use my fingers as the medium to cast my genjutsu, meaning you have to either keep your gaze below my hip to not be caught in my genjutsu or risk being caught in it.", explained Naruto.

Both Kimiko's and Itachi's eyes widened at this revelation and quickly performed the Ram seal and said " **Kai!** " to cancel the genjutsu cast on them. Once the genjutsu was released they saw the barrage of shurikens flying at them. They dodged them skillfully and prepared themselves for another attack. Itachi drew his tantō from the sheath on his back and Kimiko her katana from the sheath on her hip. Naruto smirked at them, "So you want a kenjutsu match first then? Well, that can be arranged.", with that said he unsealed his chokutō from the seal on his arm guard.

They stood still for a few seconds and a leaf flew above them, slowly sinking towards the ground. They intently watched the leaf, seeing it as the countdown until the kenjutsu part of their match began. The leaf closed in on the ground, making all three of them ready their blades. At the exact moment the leaf hit the ground they all sped forward meeting in the middle with Naruto blocking Itachi's tantō on his right with a kunai, while his chokutō blocked Kimiko's katana on his left. Jumping back they began to dance around each other not one of them gaining any ground. Naruto's Sharingan worked overtime to register every single slash and jab aimed at him and to perfectly dodge or block the strike. The same could be said for Itachi as he used his Sharingan to be perfectly in sync with Kimiko's swordplay. Kimiko didn't require help in the like of the Sharingan or such, she had her natural talent at kenjutsu.

Blocking a slash on his left from Kimiko while simultaneously attacking Itachi with his kunai, Naruto had to admit he never had so much fun in his life. He started to incorporate taijutsu in their swordplay by adding kicks and knee strikes in his attack pattern. After a few minutes of an impressive kenjutsu fight, Naruto finally saw an opening. Taking advantage of it he managed to hit Itachi with his kunai, giving him a large gash on his arm while kicking Kimiko in the stomach, making her spit out saliva and skid back.

Throwing a punch at Itachi, he only narrowly missed due to the Uchiha still feeling the pain of being cut on his arm. Itachi retaliated by attempting to slash at Naruto. Naruto saw the strike coming and blocked the slash with his chokutō while using his free right hand to strike at Itachi's hand, forcing him to let go of the tantō. Once the tantō left Itachi's grasp, Naruto caught it and threw it away hard enough to pierce into the wall several inches and stay in the wall.

Kicking him back as well, Itachi landed right next to the recovered Kimiko. "How about we skip taijutsu and come to ninjutsu?", questioned Naruto making Kimiko and Itachi smirk. Utilizing her huge amounts of chakra, Kimiko clapped her hands together causing her cheeks to inflate. This action made Naruto narrow his eyes as he saw the amounts of chakra gathering in her body. Kimiko finally amassed enough chakra and shouted, " **Suiton: Suishōha** "!

A huge wave of water filled the arena causing Naruto to quickly jump up the wall and stick to it by channeling chakra into his feet. He looked to his right to see Itachi running along the wall running through hand seals, Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger → Monkey, and saying, " **Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni** ". Itachi unleashed a volley of shurikens with one hand while at the same time igniting the shuriken with fire-natured chakra. Once lit aflame the shuriken flew at Naruto who copied Itachi's hand seals and performed the same jutsu to cancel each other out.

Disregarding Itachi for a second his gaze fell on his sister when he noticed the long sequence of hand seals she was flawlessly performing. Recognizing the hand seals, Naruto quickly prepared himself to counter the jutsu accordingly. ... → Monkey → Bird → Yang Water → Rat → Boar → Bird, finally finishing her hand seals, Kimiko shouted out the name of her jutsu, " **Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu** ". The water in front of her bulged out as a huge dragon of water rose from the water, it's yellow eyes glaring dangerously at Naruto before lunging towards him. Dodging the lunges of the dragon and shuriken from Itachi, Naruto was through his own set of hand seals, Ram → Horse → Snake → Dragon → Rat → Ox → Tiger, and then shouted, " **Katon: Karyū Endan** "!

Kneading the necessary amount of chakra in his body, he released a breath, which also released the fire dragon. It looked exactly like the water dragon for the exception that it was made of fire instead of water. The fire dragon intertwined itself with the water dragon multiple times until their heads met, causing a large cloud of boiling hot steam to be released. The heat from the steam also evaporated the newly formed lake in the arena as well. Standing on the wall above the steam, Naruto saw Itachi waiting to be able to ambush him when he's distracted with Kimiko. Not wanting to give him a chance to do that, Naruto formed a cross with his fingers, " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** ". A single shadow clone appeared next to Naruto and rushed at Itachi to keep him out of the fight.

Once the steam has cleared, he saw Kimiko appearing out of the ground of the arena. Apparently, she escaped the steam by entering the ground. Jumping down from the wall he stood opposite from her. Both looked at each other without moving, although Naruto did ready a kunai beneath his sleeve. Hearing a slight crack beneath him, Naruto jumped up just in time to evade the hands that came out of the ground. Readying his kunai he thrust it downwards stabbing the Kimiko in the ground in the jugular. He immediately jumped away as a volley of shurikens collided with his former position. "You know that could've been me. You could've almost killed me.", said Kimiko slightly saddened that her brother would disregard her that easily.

"Make no mistake, Nee-chan. Don't think I didn't know that was a clone. You underestimate my visual prowess. There is a slight difference in chakra flow between the original and clones, I'm sure you can sense it while I can see it clearly. You can't fool me with simple clones.", stated Naruto, making Kimiko instantly feel better that he just disregarded her safety but just because he knew that it was a clone.

Hearing a thud to his right Naruto looked there to see an exhausted Itachi talking to his shadow clone, "Man, your Uzumaki stamina is stupid… I doubt even Sandaime-sama would be able to spam that many jutsu… I guess I'm the first to lose then, huh?"

"Yes, Itachi you would be the first.", confirmed Naruto's clone and dispelled itself immediately afterwards as Itachi fell unconscious. Chimi entered the arena and retrieved Itachi to bring him to the Medical Area to heal his wounds and to let him rest.

"Well, I guess it is one-on-one now, Nee-chan.", stated Naruto looking at the retreating form of Chimi.

"Yes, Nii-san it is one-on-one, now.", confirmed Kimiko.

"How about we end it then? I'm sure you learned the same jutsu as I did. After all, Ero-sennin told me Tou-sama asked Ero-sennin and Kaa-chan to teach us the jutsu since he won't be able to with his duties.", said Naruto returning his gaze to his sister.

"I see… Very well, Nii-san if you want to end this with Tou-sama's jutsu. I'm in, 'ttebayo!", answered Kimiko now hyped up to see whose jutsu would be stronger.

Both of them held out one of their hands, Naruto his left, and Kimiko her right and the whole arena could see the spiraling chakra in both genin's hands. Not long after both had a perfect sphere of chakra in their hands and sped towards each other with a cry of, " **Rasengan** "!

Their respective ' **Rasengan** ' met in the middle and both struggled for the upper hand for a few seconds until both ' **Rasengan** ' exploded, whirling up a lot of dust. Once the dust settled the audience could see Naruto and Kimiko standing a few feet apart from each other, back to back, with their arm outstretched. Both of them had their respective sleeve ripped apart, showing cuts all along their arm. They stood still without moving for a few moments more until Kimiko spoke, "I guess your better chakra control paid out in the end, huh?"

With that said, Kimiko fell unconscious. Naruto let his arm fall down limply and fell down to one knee out of exhaustion, he looked back at his sister and was amazed by how much chakra she still had but couldn't use as she was knocked out by the blunt force of the ' **Rasengan** '. His Sharingan deactivated from exhaustion but he still managed to cling to consciousness. He closed his eyes a few moments and breathed a few deep breaths until he reopened his normal cerulean blue eyes. He regained his footing and saw Chimi approaching, "The winner of this year's bi-annual chūnin selection exams is Namikaze Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato!", announced Chimi holding up Naruto's right arm.

The crowd cheered the winner on and all the Kages were clapping although Ōnoki would've rather used his own Jinton Kekkei Genkai on his hands to prevent himself from clapping and congratulating the spawn of the detestable Yellow Flash. But he needed to remain his public face to not worsen the quota of received missions Iwagakure got.

Chimi helped Naruto out of the arena only stopping to gather Kimiko, whose wounds were already closing up at an astounding rate, ' _I guess Hashirama's unbelievably strong yang chakra runs strong through your chakra coils, Nee-chan…_ '

Chimi, on the other hand, had never seen such regeneration and was astounded by the medical capabilities her chakra must have. She then picked up Kimiko and brought both of them outside the arena to the Medical complex with the still cheering crowd behind her, "You sure gave them a good show, brat.", said Chimi to Naruto.

Not reacting to the 'brat' Naruto replied, "I guess they got a good show. The only thing I worry about is making my little sister worry about me and my sister… but I still hope she enjoyed our fight. How's Itachi by the way?"

"He's fine his wounds were healed and he's currently recuperating in the Medical complex. If you want I can put you two in the same room.", stated Chimi.

"That would be appreciated, thank you, Chimi-san.", said Naruto putting the group of three in a comfortable silence.

* * *

 **A few days later, gates of Kusagakure no Sato**

"I hope you have a good trip back, Hokage-dono, Kazekage-dono.", said the translator of Fotane.

"I think we will be fine, right Genma?", said Minato startling Genma by his sudden mentioning. Meanwhile, the rest of the Hokage Guard Platoon and Minato's family chuckled at the cost of the startled Genma.

Genma looked betrayed at his comrades and sighed as well as answered his Kage, "Yes, Hokage-sama I'm sure we will get back to Konoha without interference.", reassured Genma.

"That's good to hear. I hope you have a safe travel home as well, Kazekage-dono.", said Minato as he turned to Rasa who stood next to him with his own escort and genin team.

"Don't worry about me Hokage-dono. We're Kage we only have bodyguards because it makes the bodyguards themselves feel safer.", declared Rasa making Minato chuckle at his guarding platoons expense.

"Well, until next time we meet Kazekage-dono, Fotane-dono.", with that being said the Konoha group began their trek back home until Kimiko remembered something, "Wait, isn't it winter in Konoha?!"

The trek immediately stopped. They completely forgot that the winters in Kusagakure are only a few degrees colder than normal which is still warm enough. Meanwhile, Konoha in winter is really cold and they did not pack any winter clothes.

* * *

 **Another few days later in Konoha**

"Aww, come on!", exclaimed Kimiko as she saw the one-foot high snow blanket that covered Konoha.

"Everyone attention!", began Minato, "I give all of you a mission! The mission is to get home as quickly as possible and not freeze to death! Let's go!", exclaimed Minato with a comical pose before he grabbed his family's members and flashed them home with his ' **Hiraishin no Jutsu** '.

A normal day for the Namikaze family...

* * *

 **Author note: Thank you for over one hundred favorites! I appreciate all the reviews that were written and wanted to point out that I misspelled a jutsu up until now. The jutsu was the 'Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu' which I accidentally named 'Doton: Moruragakure no Jutsu'. With that said I hope you all enjoyed the eighth chapter of my fanfiction and until next time. See ya!**

* * *

" **Doton: Kengan no Jutsu** " = " **Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique** "

" **Chakura Tō** " = " **Chakra Blade** "

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique** "

" **Iatsu Sharingan** " = " **Coercion Sharingan** "

" **Kai!** " = " **Release!** "

" **Yōton: Kaisekifū no Jutsu** " = " **Lava Release: Ash Stone Seal Technique** "

" **Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique** "

" **Satetsu Shigure** " = " **Iron Sand Drizzle** "

" **Karasu Bunshin** " = " **Crow Clone** "

" **Satetsu no Kabe** " = " **Iron Sand Wall** "

" **Satetsu no Mākingu** " = " **Iron Sand Marking** "

" **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu** " = " **Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique** "

" **Katsu!** " = " **Phrase used by Deidara to detonate his exploding clay, originally used in Zen buddhism** "

" **Kanchi no Jutsu** " = " **Sensory Technique** "

" **Mokuton: Mokujōheki** " = " **Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall** "

" **Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu** " = " **Wood Release: Cutting Technique** "

" **Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu** " = " **Earth Release: Hiding like a mole Technique** "

" **Moku Bunshin** " = " **Wood Clone** "

" **Utakata** " = " **Ephemeral** " also referred to as " **Finger Genjutsu** "

" **Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu** " = " **Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique** "

" **Suiton: Suishōha** " = " **Water Release: Water Colliding Wave** "

" **Katon: Hōsenka Tsumabeni** " = " **Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson** "

" **Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu** " = " **Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique** "

" **Katon: Karyū Endan** " = " **Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet** "

" **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** " = " **Shadow Clone Technique** "

" **Rasengan** " = " **Spiralling Sphere** "

" **Hiraishin no Jutsu** " = " **Flying Thunder God Technique** "


	9. Leaked Secret and Awakening

**Chapter 9**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OCs I create. I don't understand how Itachi can't like steak. I mean come on a good steak equals a god damn orgasm...**

* * *

 **Two years later, 23rd of May, deep beneath the streets of Konohagakure**

A black-clad man with a plain white mask walked through a secret underground system of tunnels and rooms. He didn't seem to just randomly venture through these tunnels but rather had a certain place in mind to go to. After many turns, he entered a room, which looked pretty spartan except for the throne like seat opposite the doorway. On the throne sat an old, crippled man with a constant scowl adorning his face. His right eye seemed bandaged for some reason, most likely damaged during one of the many wars this man witnessed, he also had shaggy black hair and his most notable feature was the x-shaped scar on his chin. He wore a white shirt, with a dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. Next to his throne sat his trusty walking cane that helped him walk with his frail, old body. The black-clad man approached him until he was only a few yards away from him and knelt down before the cripple.

"Report!", ordered the old man sternly.

"Danzō-sama, we believe to have found the Kyūbi jinchūriki.", reported the black-clad man with an emotionless voice.

The now named Danzō widened his eyes. He truly didn't expect this report now. He quickly recovered from his shock though and regained his emotionless look. He honestly already gave up searching for the resident jinchūriki of Konoha, the Yondaime just covered the tracks too well for him and his ROOT ANBU. Not that he knew that ROOT was still active.

"Then enlighten me. Who is the Kyūbi jinchūriki?", ordered Danzō.

"After a long investigation, we have come to the conclusion, that the Kyūbi is sealed within his own youngest daughter, Namikaze Aiko. It took so long to confirm this due to her siblings almost always being with her and since that Kimiko is as good a sensor as Nidaime-sama it was rather hard to get one of our agents close enough to sense the Kyūbi's chakra in her chakra network. But we managed and could confirm that she is indeed the jinchūriki!", reported the nameless ANBU.

Danzō allowed himself to smirk. Finally, he found the jinchūriki that should've been entrusted to him since the day of the attack for… mental conditioning. "Good, you're dismissed.", ordered Danzō and the black-clad man bowed deeply before leaving the throne room. ' _I would have never expected you to be so deceptive, Yondaime… to not only tell the council that it is a he but to also say he's a clanless orphan. But finally, I've found you Kyūbi… you will be mine after all. Now to scheme and to get the Kyūbi under my nail._ ', thought Danzō to himself darkly, already building several plans in his mind.

* * *

 **Next day, Namikaze compound**

"WAKE UP YOU TWO UP THERE OR I'LL CHASE YOU THROUGH THE WHOLE VILLAGE WITH MY PAN. BREAKFAST, NOW!", threatened one angry Namikaze Kushina throughout the whole Namikaze compound due to her two eldest children sleeping in so long today. Just because they have a day off, doesn't mean that they can sleep till 11 AM.

As soon as her threat left her mouth, she saw two blurs, one yellow and the other red speed past her faster than one of her husband's ' **Hiraishin no Jutsu** '. She turned around to see the two persons she just called perfectly dressed in their jōnin shinobi attire although both refused to wear the flak jacket, saying that it messed with their maneuverability. Both sat at the table smiling at her nervously.

During the last two years, all of Team 2 have become jōnin, with the exception of Itachi who opted to enter the ANBU Black Ops under the command of none other than Hatake Kakashi. Since to be promoted to jōnin or ANBU one must've mastered at least two nature transformations, Itachi taught himself with the help of Naruto how to perform fūton jutsus, meaning he mastered fūton manipulation next to his katon manipulation. Lately, though they haven't seen much of their teammate for some reason. Mikoto has returned to being a housewife but would always be there should they have questions or need help with their training. Anyway, most of the time Naruto and Kimiko would still be sent on missions together but there were also some, where they were separated from one another. Not that it was a problem, they could handle themselves individually as well. The only problem was that in some cases some chūnin older than them didn't understand the gap of skill between them and why they should take orders from children compared to their twenty years of age or something like that. Naruto and Kimiko had two options to get them back in their place. Either spar with them and defeat the rather ordinary chūnin quickly or just knock them out, call an ANBU team to retrieve them and let the Hokage punish them for insubordination. In terms of looks, they haven't really changed all that much in clothing. Naruto and Kimiko both still wore the same attire they wore during the chūnin exams over two years ago. They have both grown to be 4'11" in Naruto's case, and 4'10" in Kimiko's case. Aiko also had a growth spurt now standing it impressive 3'9". She wore a light blue summer dress with blue sandals as she didn't need a shinobi attire yet.

Also, the whisker marks of both Naruto and Kimiko slowly started to fade away, due to lacking the chakra supply of the Kyūbi, while Aiko's seemed to have grown even more distinct. Their chakra reserves have also grown larger, more for Kimiko than for Naruto but both kept their exceptional chakra control… for some reason even they didn't understand. They also discovered that Aiko's chakra reserves were already nearing Kimiko's current chakra reserves thus she was relentlessly trained in chakra control to make her able to perform even jutsu that require lesser chakra amounts. Also due to the denseness of her chakra, they have discovered that she is able to conjure the same chakra chains their mother could, thus even Kushina trained her in something. She was only able to conjure one chain currently but they were trying to first make her able to control that one chain before attempting to summon more.

By the way, when Naruto and Kimiko made jōnin, Minato thought to reward them with the summoning contract of the Toad. They've both been excited but something weird happened back then…

* * *

 **Flashback, one year ago**

" _Naruto-kun, Kimiko-chan would you please follow me to my office?", asked Minato. They looked at him, then at each other and shrugged. They followed him into his office where he took his seat at his desk, while his children opted to stand in front of the desk._

" _What's up Tou-chan?", questioned Naruto truly curious as to why their father had asked them to his office right now._

" _Well, I want to give both of you a gift for your promotion to jōnin a week ago!", declared Minato with a smile, "As such, I have decided to let you both sign the summoning contract for the Toad today.", finished Minato as he pulled out a large scroll with the kanji for 'Toad' imprinted on it._

 _This caused both children to smile widely at the prospect of summoning the same creatures their father and that perverted sage were so famous for._

 _Opening the scroll, they could see the few names written in blood inside. They could see their father's name, Jiraiya's name, and a name written in weird kanji. Seeing what they were looking at, Minato closed his eyes, "Ahh, I see you discovered the unreadable name. Jiraiya-sensei told me that only Gamamaru a.k.a Big Old Forgetting Geezer Toad knows the name of the one who is written there but he won't tell.", retold Minato. He re-opened his eyes to see the questioning looks of his children. Confused he asked them why they looked so questioning, Kimiko said, "Unreadable? For me, it is pretty clearly written. Some guy named 'Ō-Ōtsu-Ōtsutsuki Ashura'.", Kimiko looked somewhat embarrassed for being unable to properly pronounce the name on the first try._

" _Really?", asked Naruto with a deadpan expression. This caused Kimiko and Minato to raise an eyebrow until he elaborated his question, "Because even though I can read it, there isn't 'Ōtsutsuki Ashura' written there for me but 'Ōtsutsuki stupid little brother'... and I'm not kidding there is literally that written there."_

 _This caused Kimiko to look surprised while Minato was turning the scroll at every possible angle trying to be able to read it himself, without success. Stopping his wild turning of the scroll he returned to the topic at hand, "Okay, we came here to let you sign the contract right? So please sign it!", stated Minato._

 _Nodding, Kimiko bit open her right thumb and wrote her name onto the scroll in the bracket right next to her father's. She then bloodied all the fingertips of her right hand and pressed them beneath her name, making an imprint of her fingertips. The blood dried up quickly and turned to black ink. "Now your turn Naruto-kun.", said Minato making Naruto smile as he bit open the thumb of his left hand. He began to write his name on the scroll but as soon as he started to write the second kanji of his name the first immediately disappeared into nothingness. He stopped writing, dumbfounded, and watched as the beginnings of the second kanji disappeared as well. Naruto tried again to sign the contract but the same happened again. He then heard a whisper his mind didn't even register. It was there, but at the same time, it wasn't. The voice whispered, "You won't sign the contract of my detestable little brother and father… your contract is waiting for you with him...'_

 _Back to reality, they were racking their brains as to why Naruto couldn't sign the contract, "Tou-chan was there ever something like this happening recorded?", asked Naruto looking at his father. Minato himself was speechless and confused, "Not that I know as far as I know something like this has never happened before…"_

" _Hmmm, perhaps this has something to do with that chakra of ours, that somehow due to my chakra being so closely related to Madara's that the contract won't accept the inherent darkness my chakra possesses. My yin chakra could prevent the contract from accepting my chakra signature. After all, the Toads are known to be the 'brightest' of the summoning animal clans.", theorized Naruto as usual._

" _Perhaps, but we can't be sure until we have proof. But it seems to be impossible for you to sign the contract… I'll find something else to reward you with then, alright?", asked Minato as he turned to his eldest child. Naruto nodded in understanding and Naruto and Kimiko left the office together to return to their sparring. In the end, Minato gifted Naruto some katon jutsus._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

They still haven't found the reason as to why Naruto couldn't sign the contract and the chakra theory seemed the most plausible right now. Kimiko was able to summon a toad that became her familiar named, Gamahiro. He was about the same size as Kimiko currently, but she was told they grow quicker than humans do, far quicker. He would most likely be already as tall as houses when she turned fourteen. He had an aquamarine skin tone and yellow eyes with gray markings around them, and two distinct circular markings on his shoulders. Additionally, he carried a single katana but said he would get himself another one when he grew bigger. But back to their current predicament.

"Morning Kaa-chan. Please don't hit us, okay?", pleaded Kimiko with Naruto nodding fervously.

Kushina put her one hand, that wasn't gripping the handle of her pan, on her hip, "What am I supposed to do with you two?", asked Kushina herself as she returned to cleaning the dishes while her children talked.

"Onii-chan, Onee-chan, will you teach me a jutsu before I enroll in the academy in a week?", asked Aiko putting on her best puppy eyes to convince them. She knew her brother wouldn't be able to resist them. No matter how hard he tried to ignore them, he never succeeded and relented.

Naruto rubbed his chin, thinking if there was an easy jutsu one could learn before entering the academy that will also be useful. Getting an idea, he leaned over to Kimiko and whispered something in her ear. When he finished whispering to her, she nodded, "Yeah sounds like a good idea… Okay, imōto-chan we think we have an easy jutsu you can learn that isn't dangerous. After breakfast, we will teach you the ' **Kawarimi no Jutsu** ', alright?"

They quickly ate breakfast and asked Aiko to follow them outside in the backyard to begin learning the ' **Kawarimi no Jutsu** '. "To begin this jutsu replaces your body with an object, generally though they are wooden logs, the moment you're hit by an enemy attack. This creates an optical illusion making the enemy think that his attack was successful. From your substituted position you can then escape or plan a surprise attack. The hand seals are as follows: Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake. Most shinobi though train themselves in this technique hard enough to not require any hand seals at all and it is also what I recommend with every jutsu but especially with this technique.", explained Naruto as Kimiko simultaneously visualized his explanation next to him.

Nodding in understanding, Aiko slowly went through the hand seals to make sure she didn't do them wrong and channeled her chakra, " **Kawarimi no Jutsu** "! She erupted in a poof of smoke and although there was a wooden log at her former position she was only about three foot away from the log, nowhere near the former location of the log which was a few yards to the right, "Well done, you gotta imagine the place of the log more to get there closer and closer until you are directly on top of its former location.", advised Naruto. Taking his advice to heart, Aiko attempted again and was able to get closer than before but was still far away from perfecting the jutsu. "Keep trying and we will check back later after finishing our training ok?", asked Naruto nodding to Kimiko making Aiko nod and declare, "When you return I'll have mastered this technique!"

Naruto and Kimiko both smiled and Kimiko said, "I'm sure you will. You'll show us right?" Aiko only nodded hard and concentrated on doing the jutsu correctly.

They went back inside the house and grabbed their stuff before leaving the compound making sure to tell their mother where they were going and where Aiko was. Once they left, they sped towards the nearest training ground.

* * *

 **Training ground**

"So Nee-chan, what do you wanna train on today?", inquired Naruto.

"Hmm… how about trying to add our elemental affinities to the ' **Rasengan** ' again?", suggested Kimiko making Naruto smile and nod, "Sounds like a great idea!"

Both raised their hands and crossed their fingers and shouted, " **Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** "!

The whole training ground erupted in poofs of smoke. Both Naruto and Kimiko had enough chakra to easily create 100 shadow clones without being winded. They addressed the clones to get to work on merging a ' **Rasengan** ' with their chosen element. So far they didn't have any luck or progress but they felt that they were getting closer. After all, they were doing this for at least a year now. Kimiko had chosen to first incorporate her suiton affinity into the Rasengan while Naruto first opted for his katon affinity.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kimiko were discussing the theory of adding nature transformation to the ' **Rasengan** ', the highest form of shape manipulation. "It is hard to separate your mind to simultaneously concentrate on adding your nature transformation into the ' **Rasengan** ' while also maintaining the form of the ' **Rasengan** ' to not let it collapse. There has to be a solution to this…"

They both racked their brains to find a solution sitting still, thinking, for what seemed like hours and literally were hours. Five hours to be exact. Opening his eyes for the first time in the last five hours, he saw that the sun was about to set. Seeing the clones almost completely exhausted still trying to figure out a solution, he thought that they should stop for today. Shaking his sister out of her thoughts and little nap, he addressed the clones, "Dispel one after another. We don't want to get a headache, right?"

The mass of clones slowly dispelled until thirty minutes later all the clones were gone, "You know, Nee-chan?"

Kimiko rose an eyebrow in question, "Kaa-chan will be extremely angry that we didn't come to lunch…"

Kimiko paled at the thought. If female fury was a skill to be mastered, while Kimiko was adept at it, their mother was like the goddess of female fury, even surpassing Senju Tsunade in her ferociousness when angered. Kimiko gulped at the prospect of being scolded by their mother... again. They packed up and started their trek home before after a few yards Kimiko suddenly stopped.

"What is it, Nee-chan?", asked Naruto knowing that when his sister suddenly stops that she senses something.

"I sense someone or rather something… I'm not sure it doesn't feel human but humanoid.", elaborated Kimiko and she turned towards a tree about seven yards away from them. From one of the branches bulged out a figure. It seemed to wiggle its way upwards out of the branch. After a few seconds, it stopped. It looked like some big venus flytrap. Suddenly, the plant opened itself, revealing a humanoid being with green eyes. Though that wasn't the most peculiar feature of this… something. The most interesting fact of this plant-human hybrid was that it was consisting of two halves. The left half was pure white with shaggy green hair. The right half was as dark as the night, a pure black. It also had a green eye although it had no other facial features like a mouth or nose, making Naruto believe that it was mute for the time being.

"Who or what are you?", ordered Kimiko as she drew her katana from her back as Naruto unsealed his chokutō and pointed it at the black and white being.

"No need to worry, Kimiko-sama, Naruto-sama.", spoke the white half cheerfully.

The black half reacted to his other half, " **Stop talking. Let me explain.** "

" **Naruto-sama, Kimiko-sama. We have watched you for quite some time…** ", spoke the black half putting Naruto and Kimiko on edge thinking, ' _From where do they know our names?_ ', the black half continued, " **Let me introduce us first. My name is Black Zetsu, also called Wicked Tongue.** ", the white half continued, "And my name is White Zetsu, also called Chatterbox! But while we're together in this form just call us Zetsu."

" **Let me indulge you with a little history. As you can see, we're not exactly human but rather artificial humans. We were created during the time of the Rikudō Sennin, by none other than his own mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya! She was the first human to ever gain chakra and was the matriarch of the Ōtsutsuki Clan which has died out not long after the death of the Rikudō Sennin himself.** ", before continuing he let the information sink in. Seeing Kimiko and Naruto widen their eyes, Black Zetsu knew he had their attention now.

" **You see even back then all those millennia ago, the world was plagued by war. Kaa-chan, or as you now know her as Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, loved the humans and couldn't stand to see them destroy themselves. Thus she sought out the power to stop all wars. This power was provided by one thing and one thing only. The Shinjū, or also known as the God Tree. The tree was said to bear a particular fruit every millennium, though it was strictly forbidden to consume this fruit. Kaguya broke this rule to stop all wars. Thus she consumed the fruit and gained the power that is today known as chakra. The consumption of said fruit also caused her to awaken the first ever and most powerful Kekkei Mōra, the Rinne Sharingan, which manifested as a third eye on her forehead. As the name implies it is a blend between the legendary Rinnegan and the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan. It bolstered both the powers of the Rinnegan and the visual prowess of the Sharingan. With this power, she cast a technique, which caught the whole world under a genjutsu, by reflecting her Rinne Sharingan off the moon. This technique was known as the 'Mugen Tsukuyomi'.** ", once again making a break to let the information sink in, Black Zetsu saw them both slowly relaxing their guard, nonetheless still being suspicious of the beings.

Seeing that the information had sunk in, Black Zetsu continued, " **By casting this jutsu she effectively ended all of humanity since the light of the 'Mugen Tsukuyomi' penetrates all shadows and no one can hide from it. To prevent humanity from dying out, she released a handful of humans from the illusion and wiped their memories. She was revered as a goddess, even gaining the nickname 'Rabbit Goddess'. She later bore two sons. The elder son would be named Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, later to be known as the Rikudō Sennin, first wielder of the Rinnegan, and the younger son Ōtsutsuki Hamura, wielder of the Byakugan, which in fact originated from the Ōtsutsuki Clan. From these two children, four clans would be born. Hagoromo's descendants would be known as the Uchiha Clan of the Sharingan and the Senju Clan of the Forest. Meanwhile, Hamura's descendants would be known as the Hyūga Clan of the Byakugan and the Kaguya Clan of the Shikotsumyaku. With their birth, Kaguya's children inherited her chakra. They were taught to love humans and to help them. But like all humans, power can corrupt even the strongest. Eventually, Kaguya became mad with power and was soon feared as a demon among the people she brought peace over. Enraged she started to, in a sense, sacrifice people to the God Tree. This ritual would later be known as the Ritual of the God Tree. Those who took part in the ritual would never be seen again, due to them being sacrificed. To keep her children from finding out the truth over the ritual, she ordered her children to never look past the peak in which the God Tree resided in.** ", hearing slight snoring from his left half, Black Zetsu's eyebrow(?) twitched from annoyance. He shook his other half awake which then stammered out things like 'Yeah' or 'Kaa-chan was beautiful, you know'.

Sighing to himself Black Zetsu continued, " **Eventually, Hagoromo and Hamura met a toad from Mount Myōboku called Gamamaru…** ", this caused both Kimiko's and Naruto's eyes to widen as they knew who Gamamaru was. He was the Big Old Forgetting Geezer Toad! He continued, " **... he told them about the ritual that was performed in reverence of the God Tree. Hagoromo and Hamura were shocked to hear that their mother would do something like that. But when Hagoromo's love interest was sent to partake in the ritual, he and Hamura investigated. But they did not expect to see so many dead, one of them being Hagoromo's love. His cries and wails were loud and his pain awakened the first step to his dōjutsu, the Sharingan. With his newly awakened Sharingan, Hagoromo sought out Gamamaru on Mount Myōboku to receive senjutsu training from the toad there. Hagoromo was a real natural at the concept of senjutsu, mastering it in merely a week. During that time he asked his otōto to keep his mother from his track, after all, they were planning to bring her down! Hamura managed to keep his mother busy until the last day when she came and asked the whereabouts of Hagoromo. Not willing to betray his elder brother, Hamura tried to stall his mother using the power of his Byakugan. Back in the time of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, the Byakugan was far more powerful than the version of the Byakugan wielded by today's Hyūga Clan. But Hamura's Byakugan was no match for the superior power of his mother.** "

Rearranging his thoughts to correctly remember the history, Black Zetsu nodded to himself before continuing, " **Using her superior, godlike powers she took control of Hamura's consciousness and waited for her eldest son to arrive. Once he arrived, Kaguya used the controlled Hamura to fight Hagoromo. Not wanting to harm his otōto, Hagoromo only dodged and tried to talk sense to Hamura until Kaguya herself declared it to be useless. With that said Hagoromo struck down his own otōto, awakening the powers of both the Mangekyō Sharingan-** ", Naruto widened his eyes since he heard about this stage of the dōjutsu, " **\- and the Rinnegan. Yet, Hagoromo was able to save his otōto by using a sacred healing tag made by the Toad Clan of Mount Myōboku. Now free from his mother's mind control, they faced her. Kaguya, now resenting her children she loved and raised, sought to regain her lost chakra. To do that she merged with the God Tree, forming a beast with many names: Kunizukuri no Kami, Datara, Deidarabocchi, and Ame no Hitotsu no Kami; to name a few. But it would be most commonly known as, the Jūbi, the Ten-Tails, although its name was lost in history. Merged with Kaguya the Jūbi set out to regain its stolen chakra and to transfer it back to Kaguya. After months of fighting, Hagoromo and Hamura finally defeated the Jūbi and their mother by sealing Kaguya away creating a second moon which kicked the first moon out of its track. After separating Kaguya and the Jūbi, and sealing Kaguya away in the moon, Hagoromo used the powers of the Rinnegan to seal the Jūbi in himself, making himself the first jinchūriki.** "

At this point, the sun had already gone down and it was dark, still, Naruto and Kimiko just sat down on the ground to listen to the story. Even though they still didn't trust the being but you can't simply walk away from a history lesson by a being that seemingly knew the Rikudō Sennin, " **The battle against their mother devastated the land, forming the landscape known to us today. Hamura decided to watch over their mother on the moon, while Hagoromo decided to roam the world and preach the religion of chakra, which he named, Ninshū. He gained many followers and after years of travel and repaying the human population for his sins of battle, he returned to his homeland and founded the headquarters of his Ninshū religion. Soon after he got two sons, the elder son named Ōtsutsuki Indra, and the younger son, Ōtsutsuki Ashura. While the elder inherited the Sage's eyes, the younger son inherited the Sage's body and vitality. The elder with prodigious potential and skill, inventing the hand seals used for today's ninjutsu, which is an invention of Indra by the way, while Ashura had trouble learning even the simplest of techniques. Sometime after the birth of his sons, Hagoromo noticed something though, a chakra signature trying to near his eldest. This chakra signature was my own, for I was created by Kaguya in the last moment before her sealing to work on reviving her one day. For that I required the power of the Rinnegan and knowing that Hagoromo wouldn't want his mother to return, I did the next best and wanted to corrupt the person with a chance to awaken the Rinnegan, his eldest son the child who inherited the Sage's eyes. But he did notice me and began a battle of will. After months of constant struggle for power over one's will, Hagoromo defeated my will, which was, in turn, Kaguya's will. Thus he erased the will of Kaguya in me and replaced it with his own. He intended for me to preach Ninshū but it had another effect. His will influenced me in a way where I wanted to repay the one I tried to stalk by serving him forever more. The change in my will in turn also changed the will of White Zetsu, which were the former victims of the 'Mugen Tsukuyomi'. But while I was drawn to Indra, White Zetsu was drawn to Ashura and his teachings, though we still were one.** "

Seeing Naruto making himself more comfortable on the ground he continued the story, " **Thus we served our masters, Indra-sama, and Ashura-sama to the point where Hagoromo was to choose a successor. Comparing the ideals of both Indra and Ashura he chose Ashura as his successor to Ninshū. Ashura wanted to achieve peace through love and friendship while Indra wanted to secure peace through power. Insulted and enraged by this decision Indra left with the few followers he had, later killing them in the name of achieving power by awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan. He returned to wrestle the role of successor from his brother by force but lost and retreated. Years passed and Indra and Ashura still haven't solved their sibling feud. On the day of his death, Hagoromo separated the chakra of the Jūbi inside himself, creating the bijū that roam the lands today or are sealed in jinchūriki. He sealed the body of the Jūbi inside the moon, not wanting the Jūbi to be released upon his death. The night before his death, Hagoromo was visited by Indra in his sleep, who declared that his chakra would transmigrate throughout history until he got what should be his birthright. Upon telling Ashura of his brother's declaration during the night, Ashura declared that his chakra shall transmigrate as well to bring his brother's chakra back on the right way. Thus they reincarnated throughout history into several people… but you got a bigger problem than just listening to me right now!** ", suddenly declared Black Zetsu.

"What's wrong?", asked Naruto as he immediately jumped to his feet.

"It seems some shady people are approaching your imōto right now. Your mother seems to be out and your father is still working.", explained White Zetsu.

Naruto and Kimiko didn't even ask if they would follow, only having their imōto in mind. Zetsu just sunk back into the ground and followed them to observe and record the fight if it would be good.

Naruto and Kimiko ran to their home as quickly as possible, arriving there in mere minutes compared to the time they took walking to the training ground. They ran through the house into the backyard just in time to see a kunai flying at Aiko. They were too far away to block it at any rate, but by some good fortune Aiko didn't notice anything around her and was still trying to perfect the ' **Kawarimi no Jutsu** '. Aiko erupted in a poof of smoke and landed about three yards away from her siblings. She looked up and saw Naruto with a drawn chokutō. She was about to ask why, when Kimiko pulled her away and Naruto blocked an incoming slash of a tantō with his blade, "Who are you and what do you want with our imōto?", ordered Naruto.

"We don't have any business with you. Leave now. We only have business with the Kyūbi jinchūriki.", stated the masked shinobi with an emotionless voice as he pointed to Aiko. Aiko saw him point at her and was frozen with shock as her world crumbled down. She was the Kyūbi jinchūriki? Whatever jinchūriki means but it has to do with the Kyūbi, does that mean she is the Kyūbi? But for now, she suppressed her urge to ask and cowered under the intense gaze the masked man gave her.

Upon hearing his statement Naruto saw red from anger and kicked the masked shinobi in the stomach so hard he flew back to the other side of the backyard. There the masked shinobi was joined by three other masked shinobi, all wearing the same black coat and plain white mask with the kanji for 'Ne' on their forehead. Remembering the talk they had with their mother after Aiko unlocked her chakra, Naruto put the pieces together, ' _So it's that Danzō, Kaa-chan warned us about. From her description, he seemed like a man who would do anything to further his own power. So he seeks to gain the Kyūbi, huh?_ '

"Nee-chan. Make sure imōto-chan doesn't see anything of what happens next.", ordered Naruto not being able to conceal the massive amounts of anger and hate in his voice.

"Will do, Nii-san!", replied Kimiko discretely creating a ' **Moku Bunshin** ' to warn her parents.

"Good.", said Naruto simply as he readied his blade for battle. The ROOT agents wordlessly readied themselves, averting their eyes from his activated Sharingan.

"With my next move, I'll get rid of you!", declared Naruto as he rose his left index finger, "For you're now at my mercy."

Looking at the finger confused, they suddenly heard his whisper, " **Utakata: Iatsu Sharingan** ".

The ANBU were suddenly pulled into the grotesque, nightmarish world of Naruto's strongest genjutsu to date. The nightmarish depictions were able to even make these emotionless drones shake from fear. How could a child this young have such an imagination?

Quickly regaining their composure they formed the Ram seal and released the genjutsu with a cry of " **Kai!** "

After the release of the genjutsu, there was only one ROOT agent left the others already sporting wounds at several vital points. He jumped back and remembered his orders, ' _If you're unable to retrieve the jinchūriki silently, exterminate her! We can always reseal it in a new vessel._ ', those were Danzō's orders pertaining the little girl shaking in fear behind her elder sister.

Engaging Naruto in kenjutsu the ROOT agent simultaneously threw kunai at such angles that Kimiko was driven away from her sister without her noticing. Even though both Kimiko and Naruto were jōnin, they were still inexperienced and weaker, compared to the ROOT agent who was not only significantly older than them but also was far more used to such fights. After all, camaraderie is not taught in ROOT, thus they disregard the safety of their comrades, there is only the mission. So, they were taught to, of course, fight in teams but more importantly, to be able to handle themselves alone. Finally, seeing an opening in Naruto's kenjutsu style and Kimiko being far enough away from Aiko, the ROOT agent kicked Naruto in his stomach, making him impact with Kimiko on his way back.

Getting out of their daze they saw Aiko frightened, seeing three kunai with exploding tags flying directly at her. Naruto's and Kimiko's eyes widened, being too far away to get between Aiko and the exploding tags in time.

Gripping his heart in phantom pain, Naruto looked at his frightened sister with an activated Sharingan, unconsciously saving this memory with his Sharingan, tears streaming down his face, ' _Why am I so pathetic that I couldn't save imōto-chan from this fate? I have failed everyone Nee-chan, Kaa-chan, Tou-chan … No, I refuse to believe that I can't do anything! I WILL SAVE HER!_ ', with that thought fresh in his mind, Naruto performed a seal-less substitution with Aiko, putting her in safety while putting himself into the direct trajectory of the exploding tags.

Seeing the kunai close in on him, his eyes widened as the tomoe in his Sharingan eyes transformed into something different.

The exploding tags detonated completely engulfing Naruto in their deadly explosion. Kimiko and Aiko screamed out at Naruto in horror. This is the scene not only Minato and Kushina came to but also Zetsu as he slowly poked out of the tree in the backyard.

Minato and Kushina frantically looked at the explosion then at their children counting them, ' _1, 2, … WHERE'S NARUTO?!_ ', looking back at the dust flying in the air, Kushina couldn't help but scream out, "NARUTO!"

Kimiko with tears flowing from her eyes looked down until she noticed the chakra. It was so dark right now but it was definitely Naruto's signature and so strong. Hearing a little sizzling from her right palm and as well as feeling pain from the same spot she looked at her right palm. Her right palm now sported the depiction of a sun.

Hearing a low growl everyone, including the ROOT agent still standing there, looked at the settling dust. They could now see the outlines of silver-colored chakra inside the dust. Then at the top of the dust cloud, two menacing-looking yellow orbs became visible. The more the dust settled the more the ROOT agent was shaking from actual fear. The dust finally completely settled making everyone's eyes widen from the revealed. There stood Naruto with blood spilling down in streams from his eyes, his hair swaying wildly behind him from the chakra output. That was not all, however. Naruto stood inside the skeletal form of some five yards tall, ethereal warrior. It was the upper body of a skeleton made of chakra in a silver hue. The arms of the skeleton split into two for each arm at the elbow, making the skeleton have four forearms. Looking up at the skull of the ethereal form, one couldn't help but having a shiver run down one's spine. Two yellow glowing orbs as eyes inside a normal looking skull. Well, normal looking apart from the four horns protruding the skull, twisting upwards into the sky. One horn for every side of the skull, meaning one on his forehead, one on the back of his head, and on the right side of the skull and the last on the left side of the skull. Naruto's eyes were closed at the moment, trying to deal with the pain flowing throughout his whole body.

White Zetsu whistled in astonishment and barely contained excitement, pulling the attention from everyone except Naruto and the ROOT agent, "There it is other half! ' **Susanoo** '!"

Kimiko was frantic and ordered Zetsu, "What is this ' **Susanoo** ' you're talking about? Answer now!"

"No problem, Kimiko-sama. ' **Susanoo** ' is the ability one unlocks by awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes! It has several stages ranging from the skeletal form we see right now to a complete body form equal in strength to that of the bijū! In between that the ' **Susanoo** ' manifests muscles, skin, and clothing, forming the humanoid form of the ' **Susanoo** ' and lastly armor, forming the armored form of the ' **Susanoo** '. Every ' **Susanoo** ' has a different weapon aside from a standard sword, based on the caster. It is the ultimate defense and ultimate offense of any Mangekyō Sharingan wielder! That is all I know about it, Kimiko-sama.", answered White Zetsu without hesitation, due to Black Zetsu currently being busy recording the fight.

Everyone turned back to Naruto as they heard a grabbing sound. They saw one hand of the left arm still positioned in front of Naruto protectively, while the other grabbed the shocked ROOT agent and brought him closer to Naruto. Finally, noticing he was trapped by Naruto, he struggled to free himself. The hand of the ' **Susanoo** ' didn't even budge until finally, the ROOT agent was directly in front of Naruto. Everyone was frozen in place from the suffocating feeling Naruto's chakra emitted except for Aiko as she was the only one he suppressed the suffocating feeling for, knowing that the others would be able to endure it.

"You will... not get… anything… out of me!", declared the ROOT agent with a strained voice due to the crushing force holding him right now.

In retaliation, veins started to appear in Naruto's right eye as he strained it, even more, causing it to bleed even stronger, "You come into our home and try to kidnap and/or assassinate my imōto, and now you refuse to cooperate… then I'll just have to force you to cooperate!", speaking out loud the word that just wandered his mind right now, he used the ability of the Mangekyō Sharingan of his right eye, " **Omoikane** "!

The ROOT agent slumped forward for a few seconds before seemingly waking up again this time not even trying to resist, and calmly stated, "I'm to your service, Naruto-sama!"

"Who sent you?", demanded Naruto.

"I can't tell you because as soon as I begin to leak confidential information, my body will be paralyzed due to a seal placed on my tongue.", stated the ROOT agent without hesitation.

"Show me the seal!", demanded Naruto once again, still holding the ROOT agent with his ' **Susanoo** ' in place.

The ROOT agent opened his mouth and stretched out his tongue as far as possible. Naruto's gaze fell on his father, revealing the unique pattern of his Mangekyō Sharingan to his family. It had the form of a perfectly formed snowflake. "Tou-chan, can you identify the seal please and state its use. I'm not good enough at fūinjutsu yet to decipher this seal.", said Naruto as softly as he could in such a situation.

They all broke out of their stupor Kushina, Kimiko, and Aiko trying to hug Naruto only to not get through the ' **Susanoo** '. Naruto smiled softly as he slowly dispelled the ' **Susanoo** ' only to fall to his knees, holding his right eyes with his right hand and cough out blood onto his left hand's palm, which unlike Kimiko's right palm did not adorn a sun but a crescent moon. He violently coughed out blood as his ' **Susanoo** ' screamed out and disappeared completely causing the ROOT agent to fall out of his grasp. Weirdly enough, the ROOT agent did not even attempt to flee just staying there showing his tongue to Minato as he analyzed the seal and tried to figure out the jutsu Naruto used to make the ROOT agent this obedient. ROOT agents were trained for undying loyalty to none other than Danzō.

Kushina ran over to Naruto worried to death for him, "Naruto-kun, what's wrong?"

Naruto gave a strained smile, "Damn… this jutsu it feels like every single cell in my body is punctured by a red-hot needle. Not to mention my eyes… it's a wonder I haven't fainted from pain yet… perhaps the pain caused by this jutsu keeps one conscious…", mused Naruto as the blood flow from his mouth and eyes slowly stemmed. He was breathing heavily and was close to falling unconscious, yet he willed himself to stay conscious a bit longer, "Have you deciphered the seal, Tou-chan?"

"Yes, I recognize it… it is called ' **Zekka Konzetsu no In** ' and there is only one person who can apply it… Shimura Danzō.", stated Minato making everyone gasp, except for Aiko and Naruto. Aiko because she had no idea who this Danzō person was, but he couldn't be good news judging by the reactions her family had. Naruto on the other hand just chuckled, "Of course, that old cripple would seek the Kyūbi…", stated Naruto making Kushina and Minato gasp and try to suppress any more information to be leaked.

Naruto just shook his head, "It is too late either way… one of the ROOT agents... already leaked the information to Aiko. He revealed her status... as jinchūriki of the Kyūbi.", said Naruto somberly as he partly blamed himself for not shutting up the ROOT agent quickly enough to spare Aiko from knowing the truth.

"Onii-chan what does this word, jinchūriki, mean?", asked Aiko her big brother with big eyes.

Naruto smiled back lovingly and patted her head, "Kaa-chan would be a better person to explain that to you… after all, she was the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi before you were…before I fall unconscious… you ROOT agent.", the ROOT agent in question kneeled before him and awaited an order, "Follow the orders of your Hokage. I'll see you all tomorrow or so, I'm really exhausted.", stated Naruto as his eyes rolled back and he promptly fell unconscious in his mother's arms with Aiko trying to cuddle up to Naruto and Kimiko hugging the unconscious form of Naruto smiling while tears streamed down her face, "Nii-...baka."

Kushina stood up with Naruto in her arms and thought about walking to the hospital, rather than hopping over the rooftops, not wanting to interrupt the much-needed slumber her son was in right now. Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, Zetsu formed out of the ground, " **Perhaps we** can be of any **help? We can** phase through the ground **right to the nearest hospital.** ", stated both halves of Zetsu in tandem.

Kushina was about to punch this weird looking… thing for startling her before Kimiko held out a hand stopping her, "No… Kaa-chan, we can trust them."

" **Thank** you, Kimiko-sama! **By the way** , shall we send one of **our clones to spy** on this Danzō person?", stated Zetsu making Kimiko raise her eyebrows in surprise, "You can spy?"

"Of course, we can! We're the best spies in all of the Elemental Nations! Or can you sense my chakra signature?", challenged White Zetsu making Black Zetsu somewhat sigh in annoyance.

Kimiko checked her sensory ability and truth be told there wasn't even a tiny sliver of chakra inside this plant-man hybrid's body, "Incredible…there isn't even the tiniest bit of chakra in your body. Then yes, please send one of your clones to spy on Shimura Danzō!", ordered Kimiko making Zetsu nod. The venus flytrap around the upper half of their body disappeared, showing the arms of Zetsu as they used them to support their weight as the two halves move in different directions, separating themselves from each other in a sickening *squelch*. There now stood two separate beings one black one white, both forming another leg so both entities could stand without a problem.

" **Please hold onto me and I'll phase you all and Naruto-sama to the hospital.** ", stated Black Zetsu as he moved towards a sickly looking Kushina who held one of her hands before her mouth to drown the need to vomit. Meanwhile, Aiko looked like she found a new toy. She was observing the black man-thing and she couldn't help but be fascinated by it.

"I'll be coming shortly Kushina-chan. I'll just finish business with the ROOT agent here!", stated Minato. Kushina nodded at this as she knew this would be beneficial for her family to know what that old coot was planning. She grabbed onto the black man plant thing and they slowly started to sink into the ground due to Black Zetsu using one of the techniques provided to him by genetical tinkering done by Uchiha Madara with Senju Hashirama's DNA, ' _ **Kagerō**_ '! And just like that, they disappeared from the backyard.

* * *

 **Next day, the hospital of Konohagakure no Sato**

In the hospital room 212, we see four figures. All four sleeping, with the oldest of them sleeping in one of the chairs, next to the bed. Speaking of the bed, on the bed beneath the blanket laid two figures. The younger figure was desperately hugging the arm of the unmoving form beside her, trying to cuddle closer to him. The last form also sat on a chair but rested her head on the bed right next to the young man lying there. Those forms were, Kushina, Aiko, Naruto, and Kimiko. They've been sleeping at the hospital refusing to leave Naruto. Minato was there as well, but the duties of the Hokage pulled him away from his son. He also had to now declare the identity of the Kyūbi jinchūriki, before the civilian population could hear lies from Danzō, to make them hate Aiko. Thus he needed to announce it without stirring the hatred in the civilian's hearts.

When they arrived yesterday night in the hospital lobby, phasing out of the ground with Naruto in their arms all the doctors and nurses were startled but when they saw Naruto's form, they instantly led them to a room to begin the diagnosis and heal any external wounds. Luckily, he only suffered from a few cuts. They healed him to the best of their abilities and left the family alone, advising them to let him rest. After setting up sound barriers, Kushina explained to Aiko what a jinchūriki is and what that means for Aiko. Aiko immediately had a sort of mental breakdown. Well, it's not easy to process that you have a natural force that could level mountains in a second, sealed inside your gut. Her mental breakdown, however, was immediately stopped, as the unconscious form of Naruto, unconsciously squeezed her hand in reassurance as if he sensed her distress, even while being unconscious. They then talked a little more until they all fell asleep in the way we see them now.

Slowly stirring, Naruto opened his eyes only to squeeze them together again, to protect his eyes from the blinding light. Slowly, re-opening his eyes to let them adjust to the brightness, he took in his surroundings. He was in a plain white room that only a hospital room could provide and from the brightness outside he would guess it was about 8 AM right about now. Seeing, his family around him he smiled. He didn't fail them, he protected Aiko, even endangering his own life to do so.

Feeling her pillow and 'stuffed animal' stir, Aiko slowly woke up as well. She opened her eyes to see Naruto looking at her with a loving smile and gaze, reserved only for his family. Aiko jumped up and hugged the crap out of her brother, almost choking him to death with her somehow impressive physical strength. Naruto struggled to get a breath, and his struggle woke up the other two figures in the room. Opening their eyes they saw Aiko hugging the poor form of Naruto to death, and Naruto trying to stay alive. "Ehm, Aiko? I think Nii-san can't breathe.", stated Kimiko with a giggle.

Aiko stopped hugging to look at Kimiko then looked back at Naruto whose face already turned blue with foam leaking out of the corner of his mouth. Aiko immediately stopped hugging him and apologized fervently. She only stopped when she felt a hand on top of her head. She looked up only to see her brother with a concerned but warm look, "Are you alright, imōto-chan? You weren't injured, were you?"

Aiko shook her head, making Naruto breathe out a sigh of relief. Well, that was until he was engulfed in a bear hug by all three females around him, all saying how worried they were. Naruto relaxed into the hug and returned the hug. After minutes of pure hugging, they let go.

Naruto looked at the ground right next to him, "Zetsu.", he commanded.

And right per command, Zetsu phased out of the ground, "It's good to see you alright, Naruto-sama.", stated White Zetsu.

"Thank you for your concern, White Zetsu. Black Zetsu, I wish to hear the end of the story.", ordered Naruto.

" **Of course, Naruto-sama. Where was I? … oh yes, Indra-sama's and Ashura-sama's chakra then transmigrated throughout history into multiple vessels. But all of them died right after childhood, not being able to adjust to the heavy dense chakra of Indra-sama and Ashura-sama. The first transmigrants to survive the ordeal were born in the Warring States Era before the creation of the hidden village system. These transmigrants were the very incarnations of the ideals of the brothers. Ashura's peace through love ideal, became his descendant clan's, the Senju Clan's, 'Hi no Ishi', the will that is even today preached by Konohagakure, first described by Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama. Then there was Indra's peace through power ideal, which transformed into his descendant clan's, the Uchiha Clan's, 'Nikushimi no Noroi', the curse that awakens in an Uchiha once they lose something dear to them or all of it. The very incarnation was Uchiha Madara, one of the co-founders of Konohagakure and candidate for the seat of Shodai Hokage.** ", told Black Zetsu the listening crowd of four people.

" **Uchiha Madara became the first surviving transmigrant of Indra-sama, while Senju Hashirama became the first surviving transmigrant of Ashura-sama. Their feud still not decided, their respective chakra clashed multiple times until the death of Madara-sama at the hands of Hashirama-sama in the place today known as the 'Valley of the End'. With Indra's chakra defeated once again, it relented and accepted defeat, ending the feud between the brother's after millennia of fighting. The only problem was that Madara-sama did not see it the same way. Using a kinjutsu of the Uchiha Clan, he implanted in his right eye, he rewrote reality and came back from the dead, planning revenge upon Konoha. And thus he advised a plan to gain control of the world, although I do not remember what it was since after explaining it to me, he immediately wiped my memory and ordered me to assist an Uchiha he 'rescued' to fulfill his dream. Through sensing the danger of the plan, Indra-sama's and Ashura-sama's chakra once again transmigrated to produce two persons able to defeat Madara-sama and his accomplice. These two persons are-** ", before Black Zetsu could reveal their identities, he was interrupted by Naruto, "me and Nee-chan, am I wrong?"

Zetsu nodded, "Did you know beforehand?"

"No, but you immediately called us 'Kimiko-sama and Naruto-sama' the moment you first talked to us, which you only did with Indra, Ashura, Madara, and Hashirama, so that was the first clue. Then you told us of all the history of the Rikudō Sennin to Madara and such, you had no reason to do so unless we would either need the information or it was your job, this was the second clue. And the last clue were these markings me and Nee-chan now have on our palms.", stated Naruto and to emphasize his point he rose his left palm showing all of them the crescent moon, while Kimiko rose her own right palm, showing them all the imprint of the sun, "the crescent moon represents my strong yin chakra, while Nee-chan's sun represents her strong yang chakra, right?"

"You have guessed right, Naruto-sama, although you did miss one last clue.", stated White Zetsu, making Naruto raise his eyebrow in question, "And what would that clue be?"

" **It wasn't luck that you awakened the Sharingan and that Kimiko-sama awakened the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai, only known to two persons beforehand; Senju Hashirama-sama and Ōtsutsuki Ashura-sama. The Mokuton is the sign of one being the transmigrant of Ōtsutsuki Ashura-sama, while your Sharingan does not inherently mean that you're Indra-sama's transmigrant, your Mangekyō Sharingan does! Your Mangekyō Sharingan is unique even among the Mangekyō Sharingan wielders. The transmigrants of Indra-sama awaken the even stronger version, the Choku-Tomoe Mangekyō Sharingan! Its visual prowess surpasses even the one of the normal Mangekyō Sharingan.** ", replied Black Zetsu causing Naruto to look at him in surprise. To see his own Mangekyō Sharingan, he channeled chakra to his eyes first activating the normal Sharingan until it morphed into the fabled Mangekyō. Looking at the window to see his reflection, he saw that indeed his Mangekyō was in a straight pattern, unlike the other Mangekyō's that awaken to be in a pinwheel shape.

"I see… well, then Zetsu. What can you do? I'm interested in what an artificial human made by none other than the mother of the Rikudō Sennin can do.", said Naruto casually, causing Kushina to widen her eyes as she couldn't believe that this something was born by the mother of the freaking Rikudō Sennin!

"Well, Naruto-sama, I, White Zetsu, am one of the best sensors and spies known to mankind, due to me not having a chakra signature and being able to phase through physical barriers without a problem. Additionally, I am able to clone myself in seconds and attach these clones to persons as spore parasites to drain them of their chakra and restrain their movements while I do that. I'm also able to replenish other's chakra reserves by using the stolen chakra of enemies. I'm also able to communicate telepathically with my clones as long as I'm connected to solid ground. My body is also able to connect to every tissue there is due to me being infused with Hashirama-sama's cells by Madara-sama. Thus my body parts can be used as artificial limbs without a problem, even granting Hashirama-sama's ' **Saisei Nōryoku** '. Lastly, I'm able to completely copy the look and chakra signature of a person with a single touch.", declared White Zetsu and to prove that he could really do that, he touched Kushina for a second and immediately took her form and Kimiko gasped as she could now sense her mother twice, one being her real mother, the other being White Zetsu. He then canceled his transformation and returned to his White Zetsu form.

" **I'm also an excellent sensor as well as a spy but my advantage is that I can forcibly take control of a person's body by attaching myself to them and overriding their mental control over their body. Like White Zetsu here I'm able to phase through solid objects and due to being infused with Hashirama-sama's cells, I'm also able to use the 'Saisei Nōryoku' but we're also both able to perform jutsu with the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai, although not on the level of Hashirama-sama and Kimiko-sama, of course. Lastly, I'm able to record events happening, as I did with the battle yesterday including the awakening of your Mangekyō Sharingan.** ", stated Black Zetsu. To say Naruto and the others weren't impressed would be to say that an Akimichi wasn't hungry.

"You both have useful abilities I must say. Thank you for your explanation, Zetsu. Are you spying on Danzō already?", asked Naruto making Zetsu nod, "I see, you're dismissed for the time being. Inform me, Nee-chan, or Tou-chan whenever you learn of information that you deem important and especially if it's about Aiko or the Uchiha!", ordered Naruto causing Zetsu to bow before phasing into the ground.

"Why do you want to know about the Uchiha?", asked Kushina confused already having accepted the fate that two of her children were the reincarnations of some old guys as well as Shodai Hokage and Uchiha Madara.

"Yesterday, when I took control of that ROOT agents mind, I saw glimpses of his memory. One of them there was something discussed by Danzō with his ROOT agents about the Uchiha Clan. I'm fearing he's planning something affecting them.", replied Naruto laying back down from his sitting form.

"What do you mean you took control of the ROOT agents mind?", queried Kushina.

"I mean it as I said it. I took control of his mind, by overpowering his mental energy, his yin chakra, with my own. I think it is the unique ability of my right Mangekyō Sharingan as when I used it my right eye hurt even more than before.", explained Naruto.

"I need a bit more rest. I'm still feeling sore and in pain from yesterday.", suddenly stated Naruto to evade the coming tsunami of questions.

"I see, alright Naruto-kun. We'll come to visit you later again.", said Kushina as she shooed her other children out of his hospital room. Even though they didn't want to go, they soon relented and waved goodbye to Naruto as he returned to his sleep. But before he could completely fall to sleep he mumbled, "You'll pay Danzō…"

* * *

 **Author note: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you like the story thus far. I thank you all for your support and feedback and encourage you to write ideas and advice for betterment into the reviews. That's it for this time, I'll see you next time in Chapter 10. See ya!**

* * *

" **Hiraishin no Jutsu** " = " **Flying Thunder God Technique** "

" **Kawarimi no Jutsu** " = " **Body Replacement Technique** "

" **Rasengan** " = " **Spiraling Sphere** "

" **Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** " = " **Multi Shadow Clone Technique** "

" **Rikudō Sennin** " = " **Sage of Six Paths** "

" **Mugen Tsukuyomi** " = " **Infinite Tsukuyomi** "

" **Kunizukuri no Kami** " = " **Nation-Building God** "

" **Ame no Hitotsu no Kami** " = " **One-Eyed God** "

" **Moku Bunshin** " = " **Wood Clone** "

" **Utakata: Iatsu Sharingan** " = " **Ephemeral: Coercion Sharingan** "

" **Kai!** " = " **Release!** "

" **Susanoo** " = " **Susanoo** " or " **He with the ability to help by all means** "

" **Omoikane** " = " **Shinto god of wisdom and intelligence (the name means "serving one's thoughts")** "

" **Zekka Konzetsu no In** " = " **Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal** "

" **Kagerō** " = " **Mayfly** "

" **Hi no Ishi** " = " **Will of Fire** "

" **Nikushimi no Noroi** " = " **Curse of Hatred** "

" **Choku-Tomoe** " = " **Straight Pattern** "

" **Saisei Nōryoku** " = " **Regeneration Ability** "


	10. The Uchiha's Judgment

**Chapter 10**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon or Black Zetsu Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon or Black Zetsu Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OC characters I create. If one hasn't seen Naruto: Shippūden, one really has to think, 'How the fuck did Sarutobi Hiruzen become Hokage?' I mean seriously, in his fight against Orochimaru, he only used some fire jutsu, a jutsu to use fucking roof tiles as shuriken, the summoning technique, and the Reaper Death Seal, which he only learned to re-seal the Kyūbi should the need ever arise. I MEAN SERIOUSLY ROOFTILE SHURIKEN?!**

 **Author note: I wanted to try something for this chapter. This chapter the translations for Japanese terms will be written in brackets behind the term. For example: "Raikiri" ("Lightning Cutter"). The only terms not featured like this will be Mangekyō Sharingan abilities since their translations are a bit too long for brackets behind the jutsu. They will remain at the bottom of the story due to their length. Please tell me, if you prefer this or the mile-long translation list at the bottom, which is quite uncomfortable to scroll up and down. If this variant is better, I'll update the other chapters to have the same translation system as this one has. I await your reviews concerning this topic and hope you all enjoy the newest installment of my fanfiction.**

 **Also on another note, I have added the namesakes for the Mangekyō Sharingan abilities of Naruto on my profile. So if one wants to read about the Shinto god, whose names were used by me, check out my profile.**

* * *

 **Two months later, Naruto's room**

Over the last two months, quite a bit happened. First and foremost both Sasuke and Aiko entered the shinobi academy and have both risen to the top of the class, being both the rookie of the year and the kunoichi of the year, due to their beforehand received training by their siblings. Their class was filled with the heirs of almost all the clans of Konoha, except for the Kurama Clan and the Sarutobi Clan, as well as the Senju Clan but that clan only had one member left. Even though these clan heirs and heiresses did also receive training before enrolling in the shinobi academy, they were not nearly as good as Aiko and Sasuke. While Aiko was one of the most popular and talented girls in the class, Sasuke learned of the curse of the Uchiha even stronger than their ' **Nikushimi no Noroi** ' (' **Curse of Hatred** '), the curse of the fangirls! He had hordes of fangirls sometimes chasing him down to just rip apart his shirt and roll around in the scraps. Talk about weird. The self-proclaimed presidents of the Sasuke fan club were the former friends, Yamanaka Ino, heiress of the Yamanaka Clan, and Haruno Sakura, daughter of two civilian shinobis. Due to being children most of the former good friends of Aiko, forgot about not only persons outside their clan, but also forgot what happened outside their individual clan compounds, pre-dating their sixth life year. Next, on the list, Itachi did not only become 13 but also became captain of his ANBU unit, breaking the record for youngest ANBU captain in history by four months. This title was previously held by Hatake Kakashi. Naruto and Kimiko weren't idle either. When frustration with trying to develop a way to implement nature transformation hit it's maximum, Naruto opted to train in raiton manipulation, trying to add it to his offensive arsenal. Meanwhile, Kimiko was honing her capabilities with her Mokuton Kekkei Genkai, being helped by Zetsu in that regard since not only did he also possess the Mokuton but also had it longer than Kimiko, thus making him more experienced in its use. Even more, experienced than the ANBU her father provided for her to train her in the Mokuton. Lastly, Aiko's 'condition' was revealed to the civilian population while also stating that her seal was the strongest seal in existence for jinchūriki, meaning that the Kyūbi could under no circumstance break out or do anything. That statement alone from their greatest hero lifted a huge weight of their heart and they didn't treat Aiko any worse than before, although most were wary around her. Yet, Minato did point out that the children were to be kept in the dark as they didn't need to know of that yet.

Currently, Naruto sat at his working desk, working on solutions for adding nature transformations for the ' **Rasengan** ' (' **Spiraling Sphere** '). This problem seemed to be a persistent one but he was confident to find a solution with Kimiko. He had been doing that a lot lately but not enough to neglect his own training or his time with his sisters.

Currently writing down another theory of a solution, he heard the disgusting sound of something organic slowly being ripped apart. Looking to his right, he saw Zetsu phasing out of the ground, "Naruto-sama, we have news concerning the Uchiha Clan!", announced White Zetsu without wasting time.

"Really? Then please elaborate.", ordered Naruto.

" **Yes, Naruto-sama. It seems that Danzō planted the seeds of doubt and rebellion in the minds of the ninja of the Uchiha Clan. The clan seems to be split into a small splinter group, consisting of not more than fifteen people, loyal to the Hokage while there is another group, the majority of the clan, loyal to the head of the clan, Uchiha Fugaku which is planning a coup d'etat. That all is without taking civilians into consideration since they are not involved with shinobi matters.** ", informed Black Zetsu.

"Who knows of this?", asked Naruto with wide eyes. Who would've thought that the Clan of his best friend and one of the founders of the village would resort to planning a coup d'etat?

"Every ninja of the Uchiha Clan is aware of the planned coup d'etat but not everyone is supporting it. We already reported to Hokage-sama and he told us to assure you that both your sensei and teammate are still loyal to the Hokage and the village and not their husband/father. Apparently, they don't approve of Fugaku's ideals of a village run by Uchiha only. Hokage-sama has stated that he wants to open negotiation with the Uchiha Clan to prevent the coup d'etat. But if that won't work he will be forced to eradicate the entirety of the rebelling Uchiha. Lastly, your father asked us to ask you to keep this quiet. Also, after we're done here I will report the same to Kimiko-sama", stated White Zetsu unusually serious.

"Thank you for informing you, you're dismissed Zetsu.", said Naruto and turned back to his desk as Zetsu phased back into the ground. Naruto sat there for what felt like hours, thinking about what Zetsu reported to him and advised a plan to kill two birds with one stone, ' _Hmm, but for that, I need to recall our spy..._ ', thought Naruto to himself scheming.

Suddenly his door opened, shocking him out of his thoughts. He turned to his door and saw Aiko standing there, blushing a bit out of embarrassment, "Is something wrong, imōto-chan?", asked Naruto with a questioning look.

Aiko looked away a bit and mumbled something quietly while poking her fingers together a bit. "I've never seen you that timid, imōto-chan. But please could you repeat that? I couldn't quite hear that.", first teased and then asked Naruto.

Aiko now looked a bit embarrassed, blushing even more and again said something this time loud enough to hear but still incomprehensible. "Imōto-chan, please. No need to be so shy. It's quite unbecoming of such a young woman.", said Naruto with a smile.

Aiko visibly relaxed a bit and Naruto could now hear her whispering voice, "Can you help me a bit with my shuriken training? I can't seem to get it right..."

"Oh, so that's what this is about... no problem, imōto-chan just let me put away my stuff, you can wait on the training ground for me. Next time you need help, there really is no need to be so shy. I will always help you because you're the most precious thing to me in my entire life!", stated Naruto passionately as he watched Aiko work up a blush that rivaled Kushina's and Kimiko's hair color. But still, she was smiling widely, happy for the fact that she got such a considerate elder brother. Nodding wildly she stormed out of his room to get her shuriken and wait for him outside.

Naruto let out a small chuckle as he rearranged his notes on how to complete the ' **Rasengan** ' (' **Spiraling Sphere** ') except for the theory that had the highest chance of success in his mind. He put them away neatly and stood up to meet his sister outside and left the room. On his desk the only note not put away had a crude drawing of his theory as well as some text, ' _Perhaps it is possible to use clones to divide the work between yourself and the clone..._ '

* * *

 **Next day, Hokage office**

Having discussed the plan he had in mind with Kimiko and getting her approval of the plan, Naruto and Kimiko went to the Hokage office to discuss the same plan with their father, of course, without all the ANBU present, "Tou-sama, can we enter?", asked Naruto behind the door. Hearing an 'enter' from inside, he opened the door to let himself and Kimiko enter the office.

"Can we talk without the ANBU present, Tou-sama?", asked Naruto curtly.

Minato first just rose an eyebrow in question but soon enough motioned for his ANBU to leave the office. Naruto looked at his sister, receiving a nod in understanding. She held her right hand in a half Ram seal and sensed around the office to search for potential ROOT agents. Finding none she shook her head, quietly telling Naruto that everything was safe, "Tou-chan, can we discuss what to do if negotiations with the Uchiha Clan's rebelling party fails? For that instance, I have devised a plan killing two birds with the same stone.", stated Naruto.

Minato was both surprised and grimly saddened. The first due to his son's and daughter's forethinking but also saddened due to the possibility of ordering the eradication of most of a clan. Minato nodded in acceptance, "Let's hear that plan of yours, Naruto-kun."

"Here is what we'll do in that instance. It will rid us of both the rebelling Uchiha as well as a traitor in Konohagakure we all know too well...", said Naruto seriously.

"Danzō, right?", asked Minato making Naruto and Kimiko nod.

"Well then, I'm interested in hearing that plan of yours.", said Minato truly wanting to get rid of the old fossil known as Danzō.

"Well, for the plan to work both, me and Nee-chan, need to help in the eradication. I know that Itachi already volunteered to execute the rebelling Uchiha and that he would be branded a missing-nin for that. My solution would let Itachi stay in Konoha, and get rid of both the rebellion and Danzō. It would play out as follows...", began Naruto and explained his and Kimiko's plan to Minato. Minato nodded every few sentences to show that he understood their reasoning.

"It seems like a good plan but do you truly need to participate yourself? I mean it is your choice, but Kushina will kill both me and you both. Me for allowing you to participate and you two for even thinking of putting yourself in such dangers...", said Minato fearfully sending a shiver down Naruto's a Kimiko's spine. Quickly suppressing their shivering, Kimiko answered, "Yes, we're sure. Without us there it wouldn't work as they listen only to me and Nii-san. Thus we need to be present."

Minato sighed and nodded gravely. I mean who wouldn't be sad, possibly ordering their own children to slaughter someone else's family, which was also a friend's family. "Very well, I shall allow you to participate and enact your plan. But the moment you require help, you'll run, okay? Also, I will inform Itachi of that plan of yours.", added Minato sternly. He smiled slightly when he saw his children nod.

"We also have a last peaceful solution should the negotiations fail. It includes Shisui and his Mangekyō Sharingan. It includes casting a genjutsu similar to yours, Naruto-kun, to control Fugaku and then blow off the rebellion.", said Minato getting four wide eyes back. They both have interacted with Shisui in the past when they trained together with Itachi in the Uchiha Clan's training grounds. He was a kind young man only a few years older than them. He had short, unkempt, spiky dark hair, black eyes, and a broad nose. He was also known as ' **Shunshin no Shisui** ' (' **Shisui of the Body Flicker** '), due to his mastery over the ' **Shunshin no Jutsu** ' (' **Body Flicker Technique** '). He was a very good friend of Itachi and a very talented shinobi and ANBU.

"I see, thank you, Tou-chan. Zetsu.", ordered Naruto.

Zetsu formed out of the ground, " **Yes, Naruto-sama?** "

"Prepare everything for the plan of ours. Recall the ROOT agent that Nii-san is controlling and tell him to meet us as quick as possible!", ordered Kimiko, receiving a nod and small bow from Zetsu.

"As you wish, Kimiko-sama.", answered White Zetsu while they were already sinking back into the ground.

"We'll take our leave then Tou-chan. We promised imōto-chan to help her with her shurikenjutsu... again.", informed Naruto as he made a small formal bow, imitated by Kimiko before both left the office.

* * *

 **Several hours after sunset, clearing in Konoha's forest**

Currently, Naruto and Kimiko were both patiently standing in the clearing, waiting for their spy to arrive. Kimiko was sensing all around them to prevent any witnesses or spies from getting any information they shouldn't get. Zetsu was also around, sensing around him as well as placing ' **Kisei Bunshin** ' (' **Parasite Clone** ') to provide extra security, even though they were weak.

Both Kimiko and Zetsu sensed two persons approaching their location quickly. They quickly recognized one of the chakra signatures as their ROOT spy. The other however was... familiar to Kimiko and unfamiliar to Zetsu. Both nodded at Naruto, signaling him that their contact was about to arrive but warned him of the other person, "Nii-san someone is accompanying our contact. Do you know why?"

"No... I do not know of anyone who should be with him right now... stay on guard Nee-chan.", said Naruto as he hid a drawn kunai in his long sleeve. Zetsu meanwhile readied his clones to infect the targets with his spores, should it be necessary, and completely immobilize them. Kimiko simply moved her right hand closer to her sheathed katana on her lower back.

Waiting for another minute two figures landed softly in front of Naruto and Kimiko. The first one was their ROOT agent. The other one was supporting himself on the ROOT agents shoulder. He had problems standing without stumbling and bled from various places all over his body, the most prominent being his right eye socket which was missing an eyeball. They soon recognized him as Uchiha Shisui, the person responsible for the last peaceful solution of the Uchiha coup d'etat. Their eyes went wide when Shisui just flashed them a small smile, despite the intense pain he was feeling, "Who would've thought that... _cough_... I would be saved by a ROOT agent...", said Shisui as he soon after blood leaked from his mouth.

' _Damn, his lung must be damaged... who could've done this...?_ ', thought Naruto as the ROOT agent laid down Shisui in a stable position and knelt before Naruto and Kimiko. Naruto quickly resealed his kunai and knelt down beside Shisui with Kimiko.

"Shisui what happened?", asked Kimiko she held her green glowing hands over his chest. Every jōnin had to know basic iryō ninjutsu. But even with her basic diagnosis jutsu, she could see that his chance of survival was about one to ten-thousand.

"Danzō... he asked me... _cough_... meet him in one of the ROOT bases... He said that... _cough_... he should have my power... and he ripped out my right eye... He sent his goons after me to kill... me and take my left eye as well... _cough_... damn, he messed me up good...", said Shisui with a strained voice and between a few coughing fits. The medical chakra running through his body at that moment was easing his pain a little. Still, he wouldn't see the next day, "Guys?"

"What Shisui?", asked Naruto as he inwardly cursed Danzō's power hungriness.

"Do you think you could get Itachi? I need to... _cough_... speak with him before I die...", said Shisui.

Naruto nodded and looked to his right, "Zetsu! Split apart and White Zetsu get Itachi here. Black Zetsu attach yourself to Shisui and prolong his life as long as possible so he can have his talk with Itachi!", ordered Naruto.

"Hai Naruto-sama/ **As you wish, Naruto-sama** ", said both halves of Zetsu simultaneously as they split themselves apart, regenerated missing limbs from their separation and went to do their respective tasks. White Zetsu phased into the ground and Black Zetsu approached Shisui. Shisui currently was disgusted and intrigued at the same time. He never saw a being like this Zetsu character and he seemed to have interesting abilities. On the other hand, he just ripped himself in two and the creepy black half is approaching him. Guess, he can't have everything pleasant in this world.

Black Zetsu changed his form to a liquid kind of form and occupied the right half of his body, the half with the missing eye, and helped him move. Shisui was shocked when he could feel life force returning to his body, although not enough to keep him alive in the long run, it was enough to keep him alive for now, "Thank you, Zetsu-san.", thanked Shisui politely as Black Zetsu just looked at him, " **No need to thank me. Naruto-sama's order was clear.** "

"Naruto-kun, Kimiko-chan? Could we please move to the Naka river? It would be easier to fool the Uchiha Clan there.", stated Shisui not coughing any more thanks to Black Zetsu.

"Sure, Shisui.", stated Kimiko sadly but trying her best to not show it. The prospect of losing a friend was not really known to her yet but she was now experiencing exactly that.

"Don't be sad, Kimiko-chan, Naruto-kun. I've done everything I could to aid Konoha. It was my dream to see Konoha in peace, and I will not be able to see my dream come to fruition. But I believe, no rather, I know that you three: you, Naruto and Itachi, you all will secure the peace in Konoha. Please, promise me this.", said Shisui with a sad smile.

Naruto and Kimiko held their head down as a few tears slipped from their eyes, but they still nodded, "I promise you, Shisui...", said both Naruto and Kimiko at the same time.

"Thank you...", muttered Shisui as they let him support himself on Naruto's shoulder and they jumped towards the Naka River.

* * *

 **Half an hour later, Naka River**

"Naruto, Kimiko. What's wrong? Why did you send Zetsu to get me?", asked Itachi confused. He had just finished training his brother a little in shurikenjutsu and beginning preparations for Sasuke taking the Uchiha Clan's initiation rite. He noted that Naruto and Kimiko both looked down and just pointed him towards the cliff of the Naka River.

Yet before he could even start to look at the pointed direction, he heard a certain voice, "I won't have long anymore... Itachi." Itachi's eyes widened as he looked at the figure at the cliff. There stood Shisui... well, one half of him was at least visible. The other half was occupied by Black Zetsu, keeping Shisui alive. Even so, Itachi could clearly see the wounds, that covered Shisui's body.

"S-Shisui...", stammered Itachi out. He took a few steps forward until he was stopped by a hand-gesture from Shisui, "Please... Itachi, let me speak. I don't have much time anyway."

"Itachi, the coup d'etat cannot be stopped anymore. Danzō has taken my right eye. He has 'convinced' Fugaku to place the date of the coup on the day after tomorrow. There is no other way but to judge the rebellious Uchiha as traitors of Konoha! Danzō will use the confusion during the coup to usurp the Hokage position. If that happens, Konoha as we know it... will be history! He places his own power above the welfare of the village.", stated Shisui sadly.

Itachi was thinking about what his best friend in the Uchiha Clan just told him. Meanwhile, Naruto turned to the mind-controlled ROOT agent, "Initiate Step 2 of Plan Deceive the Hawk." Shisui rose an eyebrow, not having heard of that plan. He was further confused when the ROOT agent bowed deeply, accepted a summoned document from Naruto, and answered with, "Understood, Naruto-sama." With that said the ROOT agent disappeared.

"What did you order that ROOT agent to do? And more importantly, why does he even listen to your commands? Not even my ' **Kotoamatsukami** ' could turn a ROOT agent against his loyalties to Danzō.", questioned Shisui confused.

"Well, Shisui to answer your first question...", started Naruto as his Sharingan activated, "You're not the only one...", his Sharingan slowly transformed into his unique Mangekyō pattern, "with the Mangekyō Sharingan, nor the ability to forcefully take control of one's mind!", stated Naruto as his Mangekyō Sharingan glowed a little in the darkness.

Itachi and Shisui widened their eyes as they knew the requisite of awakening the Mangekyō and could not believe that Naruto could do something like that. Itachi took a slow step backwards, "N-Naruto you haven't..."

But before he could finish his sentence, Naruto interrupted him, "Don't worry, I haven't killed any friends nor have I watched someone close to me die. I awakened my Mangekyō Sharingan, two months prior to this meeting, when imōto-chan was endangered by this exact ROOT agent, I already feared that I've broken my and Nee-chan's promise, that we swore on the day Aiko was born... the day the Kyūbi attacked the village. The emotional stress and fear were large enough for me to awaken my choku-tomoe Mangekyō Sharingan. Now to answer your question as to how I'm able to control this ROOT agent. Well, it is the ability of my right Mangekyō Sharingan. I override my target's consciousness by inserting my unnaturally strong yin chakra into their mind and take control of their mental energies through that. It is a genjutsu of the highest level perhaps even bordering your ' **Kotoamatsukami** ', although it has a rather big disadvantage. Well, the genjutsu isn't really subtle as the afflicted turn into mindless drones unless told otherwise.", explained Naruto.

"Now your next question was, 'What is Plan Deceive the Hawk?'. Well, that plan was devised by both me and Nee-chan to counteract, should Danzō take initiative to manipulate the Uchiha Clan into rebelling. Its first step involves spreading certain rumors inside the ROOT bases. That step was initiated the moment I received the news of Danzō's involvement in the Uchiha Clan's coup d'etat.", began Naruto before he was interrupted by Shisui as he narrowed his eye, "What rumors?"

"The rumors involve my ability to completely erase a person's consciousness with my Sharingan. Without proof, Danzō would at first dismiss it due to his pragmatism. But we did accomplish our intended goal, we piqued his interest. And received news, that Danzō ordered some of his minions, one of them our agent, to investigate this probability.", stated Naruto seriously.

If Shisui wasn't dying, he would be furious, "Naruto do you even know what you've done to yourself?"

"Yes, I know exactly what dangers I put on myself. Now to continue, with the explanation of my plan. I have now given my ROOT agent proof that I indeed possess such an ability. This will cause Danzō to try and obtain my eyes as well. I'll lead him and his forces through the outskirts of the village until we arrive at the borders to the Uchiha Clan's compound. When we arrive there we will stumble upon the rebelling Uchiha without a doubt. I will then have my ROOT agent start to attack the Uchiha's. With them thinking that the ROOT forces have betrayed them, they will eradicate each other. Tou-sama will have placed ANBU, one of them being you Itachi, that were informed of our plan to stop the fighting and restrain the ROOT forces as at the same time the ROOT bases of Danzō are being raided by ANBU forces and he'll be put in ANBU custody, awaiting his inevitable death sentence, Sharingan sealed and such. With that, the blame for slaughtering half the Uchiha Clan will be put onto Danzō and his ROOT forces and he will be silenced before he can tell anyone the truth.", finished Naruto. He then noticed that Shisui's blood streamed even stronger from his mouth now.

"Shisui...", began Naruto as Shisui understood what he wanted, "Itachi before I die... I want to give you two presents. The first is... my only remaining eye. Take good care of it and remember... the consequences of casting ' **Kotoamatsukami** '.", Itachi nodded sadly but already returned to his stoic ANBU mask and took the eye Shisui was holding for him in his own palm.

"Zetsu-san, you can detach... yourself from me now.", said Shisui quietly so only Black Zetsu could hear him. Zetsu slowly detached himself from Shisui and sank into the ground to reunite with his white counterpart. "And... my last gift to you...", began Shisui as he slowly walked backwards, "is the...", Itachi's eyes widened as he saw Shisui nearing the cliff. He shot forward as fast as possible but it was too late as Shisui already stepped over the cliff, "Mangekyō Sharingan... if you're a good friend you'll let me do this.", were Shisui's last words before plummeting down to his wet death. Itachi stood where he just missed Shisui's hand by milliseconds. He straightened up and a single tear of blood leaked from his left eye. Opening his eyes, his Sharingan evolved into his unique Mangekyō pattern; a three-bladed shuriken.

He turned around to see Kimiko sniffling lightly and Naruto only silently letting loose some tears. He wiped them away and looked at Itachi, "You know what will happen tomorrow, right?"

Itachi solemnly nodded. He knew they would have to begin the killing of half his clan tomorrow or they would start a civil war inside Konoha with the possible outcome of another great shinobi war. "We'll leave then. Inform the not rebelling clan members to stay away from the compound tomorrow night. See you tomorrow, Itachi.", said Naruto as he put his arm around Kimiko's shoulder to calm her down. Her sniffling stopped and he heard slight snores. Looking down at his slightly younger sister he smiled. Such moments were things he protected with his life. Picking her up bridal style, he nodded to Zetsu to inform his father of what happened here today and to declare Shisui a hero of Konohagakure after the rebellious party of the Uchiha Clan was judged. One last glance at the still mourning Itachi, accompanied by a nod at Itachi, and he jumped home.

Itachi just looked at the place where Shisui stood just moments ago. He knew why Shisui resorted to suicide rather than trying to survive. He obviously didn't want Danzō to have another shot at stealing his Mangekyō and he couldn't prevent the Uchiha coup with his genjutsu anymore. It would be too suspicious with only one eye remaining. Remembering that he still had Shisui's eye, he summoned a crow and implanted the eye inside its left eye socket. Knowing he couldn't use the eye to awaken the fabled Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, that only Uchiha Madara had awakened beforehand. No, for that one needed the eyes of someone as close as siblings, to successfully develop these blessed eyes. Continuing to stay at the same spot for another fifteen minutes, Itachi left the cliff. But not before building a little memorial site for his best friend in the Uchiha Clan and his it under a genjutsu that would release itself after the Uchiha massacre. On the slip of paper that was fastened there, one could read, ' _Here died Uchiha Shisui. Hero of Konohagakure and a good friend. May his soul rest in peace._ '

* * *

 **Next day, Namikaze compound**

It was a sunny day this morning, the birds were chirping happily, civilians were setting up shop for the day and Kushina was furiously cooking breakfast for her family. So it was only a matter of time until the rays of the sun hit Naruto directly into his eyes and blinded him as he slowly opened his eyes. Squinting them together quickly, he re-opened them once again, this time more slowly, to give his eyes more time to adjust to the brightness. He sat up in his bed and stretched. His face was a funny mix of a happy and a sad look. On one hand, it was a beautiful day outside and he could thoroughly enjoy it with some training. On the other hand, however, he would first risk his life in a plan to bring Danzō to justice, and then immediately afterwards witness the eradication of half a clan. Talk about a beautiful day.

Sighing to himself, he stood up, stretched, and went to take a shower, to calm him down. After finishing his shower, he changed into his shinobi attire and went downstairs. At the table sat Minato reading a newspaper and eating a toast. Right next to him sat Kushina talking with Aiko about her studies in the shinobi academy, and lastly there sat none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin, subtly trying to sneak a peek at Kushina. Unfortunately, for him, however, Kushina noticed it out of the angle of her eye and instantly punched him in the face sending him out the open window. Kushina was shouting after the poor pervert while Minato sweatdropped and laughed nervously, and Aiko was admiring her mother with sparkling eyes. That was the scene Naruto and Kimiko, who came down just behind him, entered to.

Kushina seemed to notice them first, "Oh... good morning Kimiko-chan, Naruto-kun. Slept well?", inquired Kushina. She had seen them return yesterday night, both having cried quite a lot apparently, due to the dried tear streams running down their eyes. Naruto and Kimiko smiled slightly, not wanting them to know about Shisui's death just yet, and sat down at their places at the table.

"Onii-chan, Onee-chan, do you think you can help me with my studies today?", asked Aiko happily.

Naruto smiled at her but shook his head, "Not today, imōto-chan. We have a... mission later today.", stated Naruto with a slightly forced smile to throw Aiko of the track that something rather unpleasant would happen today.

Aiko looked down at that, trying her best to deliver a pleading look together with her puppy eyes, "Okay..."

Naruto sighed as Kimiko chuckled, "Well... I suppose I could teach you how to create ' **Kage Bunshin** ' (' **Shadow Clone** ') tomorrow. With your chakra reserves surpassing even Nee-chan's and Kaa-chan's, I have no doubt you could create hundreds, perhaps even thousands without being winded. That said your normal clone would be even worse than mine, Nee-chan's, and Kaa-chan's.", said Naruto chuckling a bit, and trying to cheer his little sister up. It worked like a charm as Aiko was immediately happy, though somewhat irked that she wouldn't be able to master an E-ranked jutsu but still hugged her brother's sitting form, "Thank you, Onii-chan!"

He ruffled her hair, effectively messing up her hair, "No problem, imōto-chan. Everything for you." That was also the moment Jiraiya re-entered the house as he was proudly beaten up randomly by some women recognizing him from the hot springs, "So much for a pleasant morning..."

"Oh, if you wouldn't do such perverted things here and try to corrupt Naruto-kun with your stupid books.", huffed Kushina as she comically looked the other way.

Jiraiya sat down again, this time not looking at Kushina in any perverted way. He already got beat up this morning, no need to add another beating on top that also has the risk of him being impaled by two chakra chains, a wooden stake and being forced into a Sharingan induced torturing genjutsu. He at least knew that his student Minato wouldn't actually harm him... permanently.

They continued to eat breakfast in silence for a few more minutes until Zetsu formed out of the ground, "Naruto-sama! We have good news. Remember our talk the other day?", announced White Zetsu happily. Naruto put his hand to his chin and put up a thinking pose until he remembered,

* * *

 **Flashback, a few weeks earlier**

 _"Zetsu...", began Naruto as the two-colored humanoid phased out of his floor, "you know I remember something. When I tried to sign the summoning contract of my father, the Toads, together with my sister, she could easily sign the contract. Meanwhile, I was rejected by the contract.", stated Naruto with a questioning look._

 _"_ _ **What kind of rejection, Naruto-sama?**_ _", asked Black Zetsu._

 _"The kanji of my name just disappeared the moment I finished them. Do you know why that is?", inquired Naruto._

 _"Yes, I believe I know why. But just to be sure... did the last name spell for you 'Ōtsutsuki Stupid Little Brother'?", asked White Zetsu. When Naruto nodded, Black Zetsu continued in White Zetsu's stead, "_ _ **The reason for that is, that Indra-sama didn't want his 'elite clan' to be defiled by slimy toads. Also, he really hated his brother after he was denied what he believed was his birthright. Thus he snuck to the scroll in the night once and keyed his chakra into the scroll so that nobody with either his chakra or his descendants could sign the contract. He did the same for the summoning contract which was supposed to be passed down the Uchiha Clan, where he keyed his chakra and DNA in such a way that no Senju could ever sig the contract without being immediately rejected. He truly was a genius in every aspect.**_ _", stated Black Zetsu with no little amount of pride in his monotonous voice._

 _"I see... where is the contract currently?", questioned Naruto. If he can't sign the contract of his father then he would just sign a contract that nobody else, except an Uchiha, could sign._

 _"The contract was lost in history and we didn't keep track as we were waiting for the transmigrants of Indra-sama and Ashura-sama. But I could send some clones to search for it. Would that be alright?", said White Zetsu as he looked at Naruto's contemplating face._

 _"Yes, please search for the contract. But do not tell me what summon it is... I wanna be surprised, alright?", asked Naruto with a small smirk._

 _"_ _ **As you wish, Naruto-sama.**_ _", said Black Zetsu and the dual-colored being returned to the ground._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

"Of course, I remember.", said Naruto with a small smirk, inwardly excited as to what summons would be included in this summoning contract.

With that said, Zetsu produced a scroll from the ground. It looked decorated wildly, with depictions of fangs, claws, and fur, as well as, menacing looking eyes. He laid the summoning contract on the table for everyone to see, the kanji stating which summoning animal was contained inside not visible, facing the table. Minato and Jiraiya rose only rose an eyebrow, Kushina furrowed her brows, Aiko looked at the scroll as if it was some kind of new toy and Kimiko remembered Naruto telling her about him sending Zetsu clones to search for a summoning contract, "So that's it, huh?", asked Kimiko as she sipped at her tea.

Kushina's little bit of patience ran out, "Naruto-kun what is this scroll, and why did Zetsu deliver it directly to you?"

"Well, Kaa-chan this scroll is special, as it is a summoning contract. A special one at that. Only those with the chakra or DNA of Ōtsutsuki Indra can sign it successfully.", stated Naruto as he pulled the large scroll closer to himself. Jiraiya's and Minato's eyes widened. They wouldn't have thought that Naruto would go out of his way to actually let Zetsu search for a summoning contract.

"Wait... does that mean, Zetsu stole it from the Uchiha Clan?!", screamed Kushina.

" **No. The summoning contract was collecting dust in the personal library of some noble of Ya no Kuni. From what I've heard he placed it there after trying and failing to successfully summon wolves to serve him as loyal lapdogs.** ", reassured Black Zetsu.

"No worries, Kaa-chan. Although you're right, it should've been in the hands of the Uchiha Clan, it was lost in history, shortly after the death of Indra. Thus the only person having signed the contract is Indra himself.", stated Naruto as he finally rolled the scroll around revealing the kanji for 'Wolf', "Wolves... I see. From what I've heard from your stories Zetsu, they perfectly fit Indra..."

Opening the summoning contract, Naruto proved that only Indra actually signed the contract. Although some other names were inside their names could actually be purged by just a small chakra pulse, as their names were so hollow they were almost invisible. And Naruto did just that. He purged the useless names from the scroll with a small chakra pulse, now only leaving Indra's name and a whole lot of empty spaces. Kimiko looked at the name written there and laughed, "What's so funny, Kimiko-chan?", inquired Minato. As far as he remembered only Kimiko and Naruto could decipher those weird kanjis.

"It seems Ashura left a little note in the contract, just like Indra did in Ashura's contract.", said Kimiko, failing to silence her laughs. Naruto smiled, "So what did Ashura write?"

"He wrote 'Ōtsutsuki My elder brother has a foot fetish' 'ttebayo.", at this point, Kimiko couldn't stop herself from laughing. Of only Indra could've read this... Naruto also chuckled with his sister. Meanwhile, Kushina and Minato were blushing up a storm, Jiraiya was scribbling in his notebook, and Aiko was just plain confused.

"Kaa-chan? What is a foot fetish?", asked Aiko so innocently she only would have to suck on her thumb and one could think she was just a baby. Kushina snapped out and blurted out, "Y-You don't need to know about that just yet... your brother will tell you when you're older."

At this Naruto stopped his chuckling and looked at this mother with a betrayed look. She just pushed the responsibility of having 'The Talk' with Aiko onto him. Couldn't she see how embarrassing it would be? He could still remember when his father gave him 'The Talk'. They couldn't look at each other for the whole evening that day. This, however, caused Kimiko to laugh even harder and even Jiraiya started to chuckle as Kushina giggled at her sons unfortune.

Sighing to himself he bit open his left thumb and wrote his name inside, right next to Indra's. He then quickly bloodied his other fingertips and created an imprint of his fingers beneath his name. As the blood dried up, the blood turned into black ink, "Finished. Now let's see my new summons, wanna watch?", asked Naruto everyone present. There was actually no need to ask as they all wanted to see the summoned wolves of the Wolf contract.

They all went outside together after Naruto told Zetsu to put the summoning contract itself into the secret safe in their library. Once outside on the training part of the backyard, Naruto bit his left thumb and performed the necessary hand seals, Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram, and calmly said, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** " (" **Summoning Technique** ").

Three poofs of smoke as big as Naruto popped up around him. As the smoke vanished, Naruto was surrounded by three wolves. They all had blood red eyes with a small black pupil in the middle. Their fur was something special as well. The first wolf's fur color was the purest form of white one could ever see without blinding themselves, the second one's fur color was a dull grey, while the last one's fur color was pitch black. So black in fact that it seemed to just absorb light around him. Still one could easily distinguish his facial features even in this shade of black. They were intimidatingly circling him, baring their teeth, trying to intimidate Naruto.

' _Hmm... it seems they're trying to intimidate me. Most likely to keep unworthy people from possessing the ability to summon them... ingenious. So what would wolves look for? Dominance? Perhaps... Camaraderie? Hmm... no, more likely than not loyalty to the pack... then the last thing I can think of... Power._ ', thought Naruto and steeled his slightly fearing nerves, to make as much an intimidating figure as he could to match the wolves' own intimidating aura, slowly also leaking his chakra and killing intent focussed on the three wolves.

Kushina was about to step in when Naruto just calmly rose his one hand, "There is no need for that, Kaa-chan. Wolves are from nature animals that respect power, for the most powerful and experienced of their pack, becomes the alpha. And I'm sure they can feel my radiating chakra, am I wrong?", stated Naruto perfectly calm.

The wolves stopped circling him and did a kind of grin, "I like this one, brothers!", stated one of the wolves, the white-furred one, with a voice that resembled a whelp rather than a grown wolf of his size, "He certainly understands that we only respect power. And I can clearly feel his power radiating from him. He doesn't even fear us a little bit."

The next wolf, the one with grey fur, spoke up with a voice matching his body size, "Yes, I can clearly see pure confidence in his eyes, as well as, determination unlike those other whelps, who attempted to be accepted by our clan. He doesn't give off any form or sign of arrogance, not in the slightest.", informed the second wolf his brothers.

Finally, the last one, the one with black fur, spoke up with a booming voice, "Very well, brothers. We accept you as our summoner. May we know your name before we state our own?", asked the wolf surprisingly polite.

"My name is Namikaze Naruto and I signed your contract just a few minutes prior to our meeting. It's a pleasure to meet you.", said Naruto. Although he was polite, he didn't show any sign of weakness until this judging glint disappeared in the wolves' eyes.

The wolves' grin only grew as they saw him understand their underlying test, "I'm impressed, Naruto-sama. You're the first one since Indra-sama to stay before the Wolf Clan so fearlessly... well, that's at least what the boss told us. My name is Ōkashi, Naruto-sama.", said the white-furred wolf.

The judging glint in their eyes vanished and they visibly relaxed, not ready to pounce at him any second anymore. The grey-furred one spoke next, "My name is Ōkasuke, Naruto-sama."

Finally, the black furred one spoke, "And my name is Ōkaruko, Naruto-sama. Together we're normally called ' **Jigoku Kyōdai** ' (' **Hell's Brothers** '). The name of our boss summon is Ōkamaru and I would be respectful towards him. He was once Indra-sama's familiar, just as we are now yours. All three of us are well versed with katon jutsu and we dare say that we have the highest fire affinity in the clan right now, except for Ōkamaru-sama. Due to us being wolves, we are very good trackers and hunters. But we have to say our farewells for now. We have to announce to the clan that they may be summoned now and that they are to respect you. We hope you'll meet Ōkamaru-sama next time. Until then, Naruto-sama."

With that said they all disappeared in a poof of smoke. "Well, that worked better than I expected, Naruto-kun.", said Minato approaching his son.

"I must admit they had me intimidated for a bit at the beginning. Only after finding out their purpose of intimidation was I able to steel my nerves.", admitted Naruto only now a small drop of sweat forging its way down the side of his face.

"Onii-chan that was cool! How you stood up to those doggies and then made them respect you!", ranted Aiko excitedly. She was still new to the prospect of summoning creatures and she had only seen toads yet. Wolves and other summons were still foreign to her.

"Wolves, Aiko-chan, wolves.", corrected Kushina her youngest. But at the same time, she couldn't help but be proud of her son. Standing up to not only one wolf his size but three at the same time all leaking killing intent.

"It's the same, Kaa-chan!", protested Aiko.

"Imōto-chan.", hearing her 'name', Aiko turned to the origin of the voice, her sister, "There is a difference between dogs and wolves. Although dogs originated from wolves, they have developed into different directions. While dogs were continuously domesticated, wolves were only once domesticated for the purpose of creating loyal followers for hunting and tracking. Wolves are far more wild and ferocious in their hunting strategies most of the time hounding their prey for up to sixty miles in one go. Meanwhile, dogs are trained to quickly and efficiently hunt their prey with as few damage as possible. Do you understand?", first explained and then asked Kimiko her little sister.

Meanwhile, Aiko had adopted a cute imitation of Naruto's thinking pose of scratching her chin. Suddenly, nodding once then a few more times she innocently asked, "I think I understand. So wolvies are wild pre-doggies?"

Everyone face-faulted, except for Naruto who had taken a sudden interest in the possibility of creating a strong collaboration jutsu with Kimiko and Itachi, ' _It may be worth a shot. If the idea works we could develop quite the formidable jutsu affecting large groups of enemies at once..._ ', thought Naruto to himself, filing away the idea for after the Uchiha Clan massacre.

Recovering from the shock first, Kimiko replied her little sister, "Yes... wolvies are pre-doggies..."

She wanted to continue explaining the difference between wolves and dogs to her little sister but was interrupted by Naruto, "Nee-chan. We must prepare. We have a mission today after all..."

Kimiko's eyes widened shortly before returning to their previous form, although she still had a somewhat sullen look, "Yeah, I remember. See ya later, Kaa-chan, Tou-chan.", Kimiko bid her farewell as did Naruto, although he added a little bow towards his parents ruffled their sister's hair a little and gave a respectful nod towards Jiraiya who was still awkwardly standing her, making sure to keep his distance to Kushina.

* * *

 **Several hours of planning later, clearing in the forest surrounding Konoha**

"Naruto-sama. The ROOT agent just informed us that Danzō is about to give the order of obtaining your Mangekyō Sharingan.", informed White Zetsu as he phased out of the ground next to both Naruto and Kimiko who were going over their plan for the third time now."

"I see... thank you, Zetsu. You're dismissed but keep a few ' **Kisei Bunshin** ' (' **Parasite Clone** ') around me so you can immobilize the ROOT agents should the need arise and they actually get quite close to stealing my Sharingan.", ordered Naruto.

" **As you wish, Naruto-sama** ", replied Black Zetsu and they vanished once again.

"I guess it's time, Nee-chan.", said Naruto calmly but there was a general sad aura around them.

"Please be careful, Nii-san. You know how much we would miss you, should you... you know...", said Kimiko not being able to finish that sentence nor being able to hold back the few tears that escaped her eyes.

Naruto, seeing his twin sister's distress, pulled her into a hug, "Don't worry. We're twins. I'm just as durable as you. We're both Uzumaki as well, after all.", said Naruto trying to calm his sister. It worked too as he could now only hear silent sniffles before she wiped away the tears and smiled at him, "I know, Nii-san! You're my brother! It would be impossible if you were not as durable as I am.", with that said she flashed him a big wide smile, Naruto returning the smile just as wide, and left.

Taking a calming breath, he could sense the ROOT agents approaching even with his poor sensory ability, which was centuries behind Zetsu's and Kimiko's.

Standing in the middle of the clearing, he closed his eyes, "So... Danzō sent his lapdogs to deal with me, huh?", asked Naruto the emptiness of the clearing.

Just as he finished the sentence, forty ROOT agents, one of them being his spy, appeared out of the treeline, "For the good of Konoha your eyes will be in the safe-keeping of Danzō-sama!", declared the only ROOT agent with a differently colored coat, making him the captain of the forty-man strong squad.

Naruto huffed in response, "Safe-keeping, yeah what else. Definitely, not just furthering his own power to usurp the Hokage position."

If they were shocked, that Naruto knew of that, none of the ROOT agents showed an outward reaction to his statement, "Well, you have just become an even greater threat to Danzō-sama's plans."

Just when these words left the captain's mouths, another forty ROOT agents appeared, ' _So... they had reinforcements just in case... and I've just doubled my number of opponents... Well done Naruto... truly well done._ ', self-scolded Naruto himself in his thoughts although on the outside he showed no reaction.

The ROOT agents all drew their tantōs and pointed them directly at him, "Surrender and we promise you a quick end."

Naruto slightly chuckled, "I was just about to tell you the same."

"Your arrogance shall be your downfall, Namikaze Naruto.", replied the captain of the ROOT squad.

"You misunderstand one thing. It's not arrogance... but complete confidence in the superiority of my skills and visual prowess!", replied Naruto half-shouting his response, activating his Sharingan and holding up half a Ram seal. The ROOT agents eyes widened behind their masks as the ground beneath them revealed hundreds of exploding tags all around Naruto's position. Hearing the sizzling of the activated exploding tags, the ROOT agents jumped away to avoid the explosions. Four of the ROOT agents weren't so lucky however and were engulfed in the explosions. After the dust settled the four burnt bodies of the ROOT agents were barely recognizable. They quickly dismissed their comrades' deaths as necessary casualties.

"ROOT is such a disgusting organization. Not even feeling a little at seeing your comrades deaths. You're truly not human anymore.", said Naruto truly disgusted at their dismissal of their friends' deaths.

"They did what was expected of them; sacrificing their lives for the purpose of furthering Danzō-sama's plans.", replied the captain once again.

Naruto now scowled at them, "Your Danzō shall never have Konoha in his grasp!", with that said Naruto formed hand seals, Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger, and shouted, " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " (" **Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique** ").

He took a deep breath and blew out a huge fireball at the ROOT agents. They retaliated by five of them forming hand seals at the same time, Tiger → Snake → Rat → Snake → Tiger, and shouted back, " **Suiton: Suijinheki** " (" **Water Release: Water Formation Wall** ").

The fire and water collided, blanketing the whole clearing in a huge cloud of steam. As the steam was clearing, the ROOT spy, who was also a sensor, reported to his superior that Naruto was fleeing. Giving out orders to chase him, the ROOT agents all nodded and followed after their target. Just as the captain was about to leave as well, he was stopped by one of the ROOT agents, who for some reason stood behind, "Why aren't you chasing after the target, soldier?", scolded the captain.

As he looked in the eye sockets of the mask, he could see the red eyes of the Sharingan opening. The captain's eyes widened shortly before he wanted to jump away but he was caught by wooden tendrils, "Thank you, Nee-chan. You can go home now, I'll handle the rest.", said Naruto as he pulled off the mask on his face. Kimiko upper body phased out of the tree to his left and she nodded and phased back into the tree thinking, ' _I must thank Zetsu for teaching me this technique. It's soooo useful and cool!_ '

The ROOT captain was struggling to free himself from the wooden ties, "There is no need to struggle. Danzō shall die today... and you will help me!", declared Naruto as his eyes transformed into his snowflake-patterned Mangekyō. He looked the ROOT captain directly into his eyes as his right eye's veins became more and more visible and a single drop of blood rolled down the corner of his right eyes, " **Omoikane** ". The ROOT captain struggled for control over his body for a few more seconds before his body slumped over. He looked up again and asked, "What is your command, Naruto-sama?"

Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, "My original is currently moving towards the Uchiha Clan compound. Once there you will order your squad to kill all the gathered Uchiha. All innocents have already been evacuated and have been told to stay away from the compound until it is finished, as such you will kill all of them except Uchiha Fugaku. If someone questions your authority, show them this scrolls. It is a forged document, resembling a ROOT agents mission scroll with Danzō's signature. Understood?", questioned Naruto. Seeing the nod from his mind slave, he cut off the wooden tendrils holding the ROOT captain. As soon as he was free he bowed to Naruto's clone and followed after his ROOT comrades. Having done its job, the clone dispelled itself, transmitting its memories to the original.

* * *

 **With the original**

Naruto was currently running around the border of Konoha trying his best to get to the Uchiha Clan compound. As he got his clones memories, he smirked but his smirk quickly disappeared as three kunai with exploding tags attached appeared next to him, forcing him to jump to his side into a clearing. Now being surrounded from all sides by ROOT agents, Naruto needed an escape plan, ' _I'm only five minutes away from the Uchiha Clan compound... I need something to hold them off of me for long enough to dart past them towards the compound..._ '

As if it had a mind of its own his left eye transformed into the Mangekyō and the veins in the eye became visible as well as the single drop of blood that rolled down his face. Hearing a single word coursing through his mind, he decided to give it a shot, " **Akkorokamui** ".

Suddenly, out of the ground sprouted hundreds of tethers or tendrils in a grotesque mix of green and black, binding their specific ROOT agent at the place they were standing at, causing them to cry out in pain. Covering his left eye from the strain, he saw the effects of his apparent left eye Mangekyō ability. The places where those tendrils had contact to skin, they left nasty acid burns and severe cell dying causing those places to slowly turn black. Taking his chance, he darted past them and dispelled the jutsu after a few seconds to get a headstart. Just as quickly as they appeared, the tendrils disappeared, unbinding their targets and leaving small holes in the ground. The ROOT agents dropped to the ground due to pain. Some even died due to mental pain overload. Quickly regaining the ability to effectively move their bodies they chased after Naruto.

After a few more minutes of chasing, they finally arrived at the Uchiha Clan compound. Stopping in the middle of the main street of the Uchiha Clan, Naruto turned around to meet the ROOT agent squad, now numbering seventy men. "Impressive. You were able to make us chase you all the way here. But this is the end.", said one of the lower level ROOT agents.

Naruto slowly turned around and saw the approaching force of Uchiha, chasing Kimiko to his spot. In the shadows, the Hokage's ANBU were surrounding both ROOT agents and rebellious Uchiha. As she met up with her brother now surrounded by both ROOT and Uchiha, she frowned when she saw the trail of blood on the left side of his face, originating from his eye, "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't use that?"

"I'm sorry but there was no other choice. But on the other hand, I discovered what my left eye can do. But I suppose we should keep such banter for later.", finished Naruto as he held up his right hand in a half Ram seal and pulsed chakra through his right eye. Just as the pulse of chakra ended the ROOT captain took out a scroll and turned to the remaining ROOT forces and spoke in a voice only loud enough that the ROOT agents could hear it, "We have orders from Danzō-sama, to kill all the Uchiha in the compound! Make sure to not damage their eyes, Danzō-sama wants them unharmed.", declared the captain.

"Are you certain captain? I thought Danzō-sama wanted to use the Uchiha for his ascend to the position of Hokage.", asked one ROOT agent. This, however, only served him a hard glare by his captain who now spoke in a dangerous voice, "Is this insubordination, soldier?"

The ROOT agent gulped but shook his head, "I'm sorry, captain!"

The captain huffed and turned towards the Uchiha, dismissing the now missing Naruto and Kimiko, who have been phased into the ground. The Uchiha were busy searching around for the children, knowing that the ROOT agents were on their side, but they all were confused as the captain rose his right hand. Just as they were about to question the gesture, the captain flicked his hand downwards, causing all the ROOT agents to engage the surprised Uchiha.

The surprise effect wore off quite quickly as Uchiha started to drop like flies and they retaliated with force, causing a bloody battle. The battle was fierce and long but soon enough, only a few Uchiha and ROOT agents remained, one of them being Uchiha Fugaku and the ROOT captain. Just as they were about to start another battle, they were interrupted by the Hokage's ANBU dropping down between them, killing the remaining ROOT agents including the ROOT captain, and the remaining Uchihas except for Uchiha Fugaku who was staring intently at the ANBU with the weasel mask right in front of him. After a few more seconds of glaring, Fugaku's gaze softened, slightly, "So you chose the other side... Itachi."

When his name was said, Itachi removed his mask, showing his stoic face, "Yes, Tou-san."

Fugaku dropped his kunai and turned around, kneeling down with his back to Itachi, "Before you do what you believe is right, promise me this.", said Fugaku calmly.

Itachi, whose hands holding the tantō were now trembling as tears flowed down his face, his activated Sharingan making sure he will never forget this moment, nodded, "Promise me that you'll take care of Sasuke and Mikoto. You're the man of the house now after all. You truly are a kind child, Itachi. Don't feel bad for me, however. I betrayed the village and listened to a madman's promises of power, now see where that has lead me to. Most of our clan is dead and the rest will be looked down upon from suspicion that our clan would try something like this again. But as I said, do not pity or feel bad for me, for my pain will be over in an instance, where you still have your whole life before you. I truly believe that you and your friends will bring about a great change in the shinobi world, even if it is as small as training those who will succeed you in your quest for peace.", told Fugaku his eldest son calmly, who was in turn only crying harder after every sentence. During this Naruto and Kimiko resurfaced behind Itachi and both placed their hands on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly, to see the comforting smiles of his best friends. Itachi's crying got less and less by the second as he positioned his tantō right on the spot on the back where the heart was. After a few more seconds of silent crying, Itachi plunged his tantō into his father's own heart, killing him in the process.

Fugaku's corpse fell forward with a small smile adorning his face. Itachi's crying soon after stopped. He completely turned around to face Naruto and Kimiko, who had a sad look on their face but did their best to comfort their best friend. Itachi smiled at them shortly, before re-attaching his ANBU mask and ordering his squad to clean up the mess, but to treat the dead with respect. Seeing it as their cue to leave, Naruto and Kimiko left to inform the now surviving part of the Uchiha Clan that they may return to their compound tomorrow. They wished Itachi good night, well as good as a night can be after killing your own father, and left without another word.

* * *

 **Deep beneath Konoha, same time**

What was once a sterile, clean secret base now looked more like a battlefield. Corpses were strewn across the large open training area of the base. Only two persons were alive anymore. One being the ANBU captain, Hatake Kakashi, also known as ' **Sharingan no Kakashi** ' (' **Kakashi of the Sharingan** ') or ' **Kopī Ninja no Kakashi** ' (' **Copy Ninja Kakashi** ') or right now with his ANBU codename Dog. The other was the decrepit old man, Shimura Danzō, known as the ' **Shinobi no Yami** ' (' **The Darkness of Shinobi** ') for his underhanded ways of securing 'peace' within the village of Konohagakure.

Both were panting rather heavily. Kakashi's left eye, which housed the Sharingan of his former best friend Uchiha Obito, was closed for chakra preservation. Danzō, on the other hand, could keep the Sharingan of Uchiha Shisui in his right eye open although, he couldn't really use it anymore due to him being forced to use most of his chakra to keep the cells of Senju Hashirama in his right arm from breaking free and consuming him. Speaking of his right arm, at the start of the fight when he revealed his right arm, three Sharingan which he used for the Uchiha Clan's secret kinjutsu, the ' **Izanagi** '. Danzō already used all three Sharingan in his arm for ' **Izanagi** ', causing them all to be closed. By sacrificing a Sharingan eye, the jutsu caster could place a genjutsu on oneself to avoid serious damage and even death. Although as stated the use of the jutsu causes the Sharingan it was used on to lose all its visual prowess and vision in general, basically the eye was dead after using ' **Izanagi** '. It is also said that the jutsu was derived from a jutsu of the ' **Rikudō Sennin** ' (' **Sage of Six Paths** ').

"Tell me, Kakashi. Who was the spy in ROOT?", asked Danzō.

"If I would know, I definitely wouldn't tell you, you monster.", retorted Kakashi trying to catch his breath.

"I did what was necessary for Konoha to remain at the top, even if it meant high treason. Every single one of my actions was made with the reason of Konoha dominating the other shinobi villages.", stated Danzō in a patriotic tone.

"You think you can justify, all those horrid actions of yours with the reason of 'protecting Konoha'? If so then you're more naive than you thought.", replied Kakashi, "and it's time for you to end, Danzō!"

With that said Kakashi gathered all his remaining chakra and formed three hand seals, Ox → Rabbit → Monkey, after forming the hand seals, large amounts of lightning-natured chakra gathered in his right hand, completely engulfing his right forearm in the electric chakra before shouting out, " **Raikiri** " (" **Lightning Cutter** ").

As Kakashi was charging his jutsu, Danzō wasn't idle. He pulled out a kunai as breathed wind-natured chakra onto it as he thought, ' _ **Fūton: Shinkūjin**_ ' (' _ **Wind Release: Vacuum Blade**_ '). The kunai was then engulfed in a wind aura, making it resemble a makeshift scimitar. Both Kakashi and Danzō looked at each other, lightning facing wind. As if they heard a starting bell they charged at each other. Kakashi opened his left eye to prevent the tunnel vision effect of his jutsu and noticed that Danzō was struggling to keep his right eye open, most likely due to chakra exhaustion. Just as they were about five yards apart from each other, they stood still as if paralyzed. They stood still without anything happening for a few more seconds until a white glob appeared on their bodies. Both looked alarmed at this glob as it grew larger and larger, effectively covering most of their bodies. They struggled to free themselves, as a face with green hair, a green eye and a creepy grin formed out of both globs.

"Kakashi-san, Naruto-sama told us to help you should you be about to lose or be in a tough spot.", said the White Zetsu on Kakashi's body. Meanwhile, the White Zetsu on Danzō's body just grinned creepily and siphoned Danzō of all his chakra, transferring it to Kakashi.

' _What?! My chakra reserves... are replenishing? B-but how? Could it be this weird white thing? It did call Naruto, 'Naruto-sama'... well, if it is helping me here I guess I can let it help me right now._ ', thought Kakashi, sighing inwardly, yet as he saw Danzō's form he saw the workings of its jutsu, ' _So it steals chakra off one body and uses it to restore the chakra of another. Clever._ '

Danzō strained himself to look up, "What are you and who sent you? Or more importantly how?"

"My, my so many questions, Danzō. You may call me White Zetsu. For who sent me... well it's the same person who placed a spy in your little ROOT organization!", declared White Zetsu, causing Danzō's eyes to widen, ' _Yes, he may tell me the name of the one responsible for this mess._ ', thought Danzō.

"Naruto-sama made sure you won't try anything funny, concerning the Uchiha Clan or his little sister, Aiko-sama.", said White Zetsu, his creepy grin somehow growing further and further. Danzō meanwhile was in shock, ' _It was the damn Yondaime's brat? I should've known with such a visual jutsu!_ '

"Now as to how I am here right now... I placed my spores using the ' **Hōshi no Jutsu** ' (' **Spore Technique** ') on your body the day your ROOT attacked Aiko-sama.", stated White Zetsu.

' _Damn, I have not enough chakra for another Izanagi anymore... will I truly die here today...? Hiruzen what did I do wrong?_ ', thought Danzō as he could feel his control over Hashirama's cells weakening.

"Thank you White Zetsu-san. I have gotten enough chakra now, you have my thanks.", said Kakashi as he pulled his forehead protector down and gave White Zetsu an eye smile, "No thanks needed, Kakashi-san. I only acted after Naruto-sama's orders."

Suddenly Danzō let out a blood gurgling scream. They looked at him and saw the huge tree coming out of his right side. He would've disconnected himself from the tree already, but due to White Zetsu still restraining him, he was unable to and was ultimately devoured by the tree, killing him in the process.

Kakashi, who was still panting and exhausted although his chakra was replenished, fell forward from his exhaustion, unconscious, only to be caught by White Zetsu who now brought him to the hospital before telling the Hokage what happened down here, "Tell Naruto-sama that we succeeded down here.", said White Zetsu to one of his clones as he vanished into the ground.

* * *

 **Next day, Council chambers**

"... and that concludes the events of yesterday. Any questions?", asked Minato the council consisting of only the shinobi side as the civilian side had no place in this discussion. Minato stayed up the whole night, to clean up both the Uchiha compound and the ROOT base, beneath Konoha. It was a tedious process but they made it just in time for the remaining Uchiha to return to their homes.

Seeing no raised hands, Minato sighed tiredly, "I see. Thank you all for coming. You're all dismissed."

With that said everyone stood up and left, caught in their own little conversations, except for the former Ino-Shika-Cho trio, where Yamanaka Inoichi, head of the Yamanaka Clan, and Akimichi Chōza, head of the Akimichi Clan, were trying to wake up their longtime friend Nara Shikaku, head of the Nara Clan. That proved to be futile, causing Minato to chuckle. Minato then called out, "Shikaku if you don't move now, Yoshino will be quite angry that you're late for lunch."

The moment Yoshino's name was only stated, Shikaku already stood at the doorstep, gesturing his friends to move, "Come, Yoshino is so troublesome when she's angry... which is all the time."

Chōza and Inoichi only laughed at Shikaku's antics, although Shikaku himself was fearing for his life right now, while Minato had an amused expression on his tired face, ' _I guess it's time for me to head home as well..._ ', thought Minato to himself and disappeared in a yellow flash.

Arriving home, he saw his two eldest children, teaching his youngest child the ' **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** ' (' **Shadow Clone Technique** '), just as promised the day before. He smiled at the serenity of the moment, ' _Yes... yesterday's sacrifice was worth the trouble and heartbreak. We secured peace for the coming generation inside the village..._ '

He went outside to meet with his children and perhaps help them a little before going to sleep, to let his tired body and mind rest.

* * *

 **Author note: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, although I feel** **like** **the ending could've been better. But I wasn't able to develop a good ending to this mini-arc. Still, I hope you liked it and that you'll keep tuned for the next installment of my fanfiction. But concerning the next installment, it will take a while before the next chapter will be released, due to me flying to Japan next week for over two weeks, in which I'll be unable to write. That being said I'll see you next time.**

* * *

" **Kotoamatsukami** " = " **Collective name of the first gods to come into existence** " or " **Distinguished Heavenly Gods** "

" **Omoikane** " = " **Shinto god of wisdom and intelligence (the name means "serving one's thoughts")** "

" **Akkorokamui** " = " **minor Shinto god depicted as a gargantuan octopus** "

" **Izanagi** " = " **Izanagi** " (pretty self-explanatory, it's Izanagi in the English dub as well... but if someone wants trivia on Izanagi, here: Izanagi is the father of Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi)


	11. Kirigakure Civil War: Prologue

**Chapter 11**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon or Black Zetsu Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon or Black Zetsu Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OC characters I create. Have you ever wondered how Obito survived literally having half his body crushed underneath a huge boulder? I mean, look at all the crushed organs: half his brain, one of his lungs, his liver, some parts of his heart, half his digestive system, and one of his kidneys. No... he should've been very dead. Actually, he would've most likely died the moment the boulder crushed him, and as such couldn't have given Kakashi the permission to take his left Sharingan. Speaking of his Sharingan... how did Obito's right eye survive the boulder? Questions over questions...**

* * *

 **Two years later, Miles outside of Konoha**

"We are almost there.", stated a man who was part of a small entourage to Konoha. The entourage consisted of him, a younger boy, and a beautiful woman. The man had blue hair which was styled in a moused-up manner. His left eye was blue but one couldn't see his right eye as it was covered by an eyepatch. From his ears hung two talismans, with the kanji for "to hear" on them. Lastly, he wore a striped, grey suit, with a green haori that had white trimmings that stopped halfway down, over them. He wore his Kirigakure forehead-protector around his forehead.

The younger boy, who was no doubt a shinobi still in training, wore square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. His hair was short, which had a tufty blue color, and dark eyes. His teeth were pointed, like shark-teeth and he carried a large bandaged sword with two handles on his back. His Kirigakure forehead-protector was safely secured on his chest.

The last person of the entourage, the woman, was a tall, slender woman with fair skin. She had green eyes, and ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs were short, with one covering her right eye, and two were long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin. She wore a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that fell just below her knees. It was closed at the front with a zipper and was kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts, however. Underneath the dress, she wore a mesh armor that covered slightly more of her upper body than her dress. Additionally, she also wore a skirt in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she wore a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left along with high-heeled sandals, shin-guards reaching up over her knees, dark blue nail polish on her fingers and toes, and was usually seen with purple lipstick.

These three persons were on their way to Konoha to ask for help with the civil war that plagued their homeland for a few years now. Ever since the current Mizukage had started viewing Kekkei Genkai wielders as demons, and manipulated the general shinobi population of the same idea, Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water) and Kirigakure had been caught in a bloody civil war between the Mizukage loyalists and the Bloodline Rebels. The entourage consisted of three Bloodline Rebels, two of which were high-ranking and the last was as stated a shinobi in training, around the level of a chūnin. They were in order; Ao, the former head of Kirigakure's hunter-nin corps, next being Chōjūrō, a member in training for the ' **Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū** ' (' **Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist** ') wielding the legendary blade ' **Hiramekarei** ' (' **Twinsword** '). Last was the woman, whose name was Terumī Mei, leader of the Bloodline Rebels, wielding two Kekkei Genkai of her own, the Futton (Boil Release) and the Yōton (Lava Release). She was the candidate to become the Godaime Mizukage, should they win the civil war.

"I hope they will help us.", said Mei with a sigh since she placed all her hope in Konoha's hands to help her win the civil war and minimize casualties, both shinobi, and civilians.

"Back in my time, shinobi villages didn't ask for the help of others. We never showed any weakness! But nowadays it seems it's okay to ask for help from other villages, so who am I to judge your decisions, Mei-sama", declared Ao proudly, missing the dark look on Mei's face as she understood quite differently, ' _Ask... for help... weakness. You're weak... Mei-sama._ '

Mei stopped, and turned around to Ao, walking right next to his ear with a way-too-sweet smile and the rather dark look on her face. She leaned over to his ear and threatened him in a sweet voice, "Ao... shut up... or I'll kill you."

Ao started to sweat profusely and stuttered trying to calm his leader down but she already turned back around and acted like nothing happened. During this whole conversation, they were secretly being watched by four individuals from the shadows. They were currently deciding if these three Kirigakure shinobi were a danger to Konoha. Judging from the relaxed stances they had, they were no danger to Konoha, "Continue, to watch them and send me a message when they are about a mile away from Konoha. I'll go inform Hokage-sama.", stated a weasel-masked shinobi.

The other three masked shinobi, all being members of Konoha's ANBU Black Ops, chorused, "Yes, Captain!"

With that the weasel-masked shinobi took off back to Konoha, to inform the Hokage of the impending arrival of the three Kirigakure shinobi

* * *

 **Hokage office**

Minato currently sat at his desk, doing paperwork, reading mission reports, and glancing at a picture of his family every so often. So all in all, he was having a pretty normal day. That is until the weasel-masked shinobi dropped into his office, kneeling in front of his Hokage, "Weasel? What are you doing here? I thought I assigned your squad to border patrol today.", asked Minato confused.

"My team is currently observing a group of three Kirigakure shinobi, who are on their way to Konoha.", stated Weasel stoically.

This put Minato on alarm, "Do you know who it is?"

Weasel nodded, "Yes. We could confirm the identities of two of them but could only guess about the identity of the third, since he is in no bingo book or known-shinobi register of Kirigakure.", letting the information sink in for a bit, Weasel continued, "The first is the former head of Kirigakure's Hunter-nin corps, Ao. Known information about him is that he possesses a Byakugan which he acquired after defeating a Hyūga Clan member during a war. This feat also gave him the nickname ' **Byakugangoroshi** ' (' **Byakugan Killer** '). The next person is the most sought after shinobi in all of Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water) currently. Her name is Terumī Mei and she is the leader of the Bloodline Rebels. She is known for wielding two individual Kekkei Genkai. Lastly, is the unknown wild card. He seems to be a member of the ' **Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū** ' (' **Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist** '), due to him wielding the ' **Hiramekarei** ' (' **Twinsword** '). What should we do, Hokage-sama? Shall we allow them to continue towards Konoha or intercept them and ask them to leave?", asked Weasel as a conclusion.

Minato, meanwhile, had a thoughtful look on his face. He wasn't sure if he should allow them entry or not. Deciding against the small voice in his head, telling him to make them leave, he answered, "Let them into Konoha, but have your ANBU squad escort them directly to the Hokage tower as soon as they arrive at Konoha's gates. Order your squad by one of your crows. I have another task for you right now."

Weasel nodded and summoned a crow with a message, stating the new orders for his squad and sent it on his way, "What is my task, Hokage-sama?"

Minato smiled, "Get me Naruto-kun. I want him here during the talks!" Weasel nodded and disappeared in a flock of crows.

* * *

 **Namikaze compound**

Not much happened for the twins and their little sister for the last two years. They mostly just helped train their little sister, mostly chakra control but also the basics of more advanced jutsu. Pretty general stuff for children growing up in shinobi clans. Of course, that didn't mean that Team 2 neglected their training. After the eradication of the majority of the Uchiha Clan, Itachi started again spending more time with Naruto and Kimiko, although meanwhile his relationship with his little brother was deteriorating. Sasuke was unable to understand why his father, whom he loved dearly although he spent more time admiring Itachi's skill than Sasuke's, had to be killed. And to hear that his big brother, who he loved even more than anyone else in the world, was the one to kill him with the help of his two friends were the ones to execute the killing order, was traumatic for Sasuke. For a whole week after the eradication, Sasuke refused to eat with his family and only complied after his mother threatened to deny him any training unless he ate with his family again. Sasuke also started isolating himself from anyone of his age group, yet was unable to isolate himself from Aiko. Even though he did not want to accept it, Aiko was his best friend, even if they are rivals most of the time. Aiko was also the one to convince him to slowly forgive his elder brother. It worked, although slower than anticipated. Still, Itachi very much thanked Aiko for that, he volunteered to judge his father himself because of his little brother, after all! He didn't want Sasuke to experience war, not now not ever. Unluckily, his wish seems to be ignored by those above.

Iwagakure had multiple skirmishes with Konoha shinobi during the last years and it was frightening. Nobody wanted another war but it seemed like Iwagakure was preparing for one. Kumogakure likewise was preparing for one, and there were rumors that Kumogakure would join Iwagakure against Konohagakure. Naruto and Kimiko dispatched Zetsu to investigate the matter in Iwagakure, while Jiraiya was ordered by Minato to investigate in Kumogakure. Sunagakure also started arming itself, though only to protect itself and help its ally, Konohagakure, should it be attacked by the other two great shinobi villages. They would also not likely break the alliance since the Yondaime Kazekage was quite friendly with the Yondaime Hokage. It was like all the villages were in an intense staring match, waiting for one to start the war. The only question was, who would shoot first?

But back to Naruto and Kimiko. As said both haven't neglected their training in the last few years. Together with Itachi, they even developed a collaboration jutsu, utilizing ninjutsu with Kimiko's mokuton, and genjutsu, as well as summons. It was the same jutsu, Naruto thought of, the moment he first summoned his familiars. A wide-spread jutsu, using a landscape created by Kimiko's mokuton and doton, and genjutsu and summons, provided by Naruto and Itachi. Its purpose was to implant fear into the enemies' hearts. They haven't tested the whole collaboration jutsu but they have tested it's parts separately. For example, they have tested the genjutsu they wanted to use on a captured Iwagakure spy. It worked brilliantly as the genjutsu was designed as a multi-layered genjutsu, beginning with two layers. The first layer implanted a bit of fear in the shinobi's mind. Upon trying to dispel it, the second layer activates, implanting more fear and creating a new layer after that. Upon dispelling this layer the next would be created and even more, fear would be created. This would continue for as long as the victim of the genjutsu would try to dispel it and be consumed by paranoia. The genjutsu's name was ' **Magen: Kakeru Osore** ' (' **Demonic Illusion: Multiplying Fear** '). The landscape needed for that collaboration jutsu would be created by the Senju Clan's only hijutsu created by Senju Hashirama, ' **Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan** ' (' **Wood Release Secret Technique: Deep Forest Emergence** '). Naruto would then use the same principle used for his ' **Utakata** ' genjutsu on the trees, using them as a medium to cast the genjutsu. Everyone looking at the trees would be caught in the genjutsu. The summons would be used to hasten the process of creating fear by hounding them or making sudden noises.

But that's something for another time. Right now, we see Kimiko helping Aiko with her chakra chains, which she inherited from her mother, in the backyard of the Namikaze compound...

"Imōto-chan, you need to channel your chakra through your body more densely to be able to summon the third chain. From what Kaa-chan told me about her chains, she first lets the chakra flow through her body, then concentrates it, wherever she wants the chain to appear from and then releases the chakra in a steady, dense stream. Understood?", asked Kimiko as she was teaching her little sister about her chakra chains which she shared with their mother.

"Yes, Onee-chan. But this whole chakra control is sooo difficult. How can you have so good chakra control with so much chakra? Onii-chan told me that your chakra reserves are as high as Kaa-chan's!", whined Aiko as she had noticed that chakra control became more difficult the older she got.

"Your Onii-chan has helped me a lot during our childhood with my chakra control. He has the best chakra control I have ever seen in a person. Tsunade-sama would most likely see a rival in terms of chakra control in Nii-san.", stated Kimiko proudly as she looked to the other end of the training field, where Naruto was currently meditating.

"When can Onii-chan help us train? He can explain this stuff so simple!", whined Aiko, making Kimiko gain a tick mark.

"So, you are saying I'm a bad teacher, huh?", said Kimiko with a dangerous look on her face as she rose her right hand and formed a fist.

Aiko slowly turned towards her elder sister and saw Kimiko with her hair swaying dangerously behind her, ' _I never knew Onee-chan could be so intimidating. She's just like Kaa-chan when she saw Ero-sennin give Tou-chan one of those weird orange books..._ ', remembering that Kimiko was currently about to unleash her female fury, Aiko defused the situation quickly, "Of course, I'm not saying you're a bad teacher! I'm just saying I understand it better from Onii-chan's explanations."

Kimiko sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry he shouldn't take much longer anymore. It's been almost an hour of meditation now."

And just as she predicted, Naruto opened his eyes, showing his three tomoe Sharingan, which quickly reverted to its normal cerulean color, "You wanted my help imō-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Weasel dropped down into the compound, "Naruto, Hokage-sama requested your presence for a meeting he's about to have."

Naruto sighed but smiled, "You know, you don't have to wear this mask in this compound... Itachi."

Itachi took off his mask showing his small smile, "I know. I just like it that you repeat it every single time I do come here with my mask on."

"About that meeting you mentioned, just let me explain to imōto-chan how to conjure another chain, and I'll be right there!", said Naruto as he moved towards Aiko. Meanwhile, Itachi nodded and reattached his mask and left via shunshin. Kimiko just put her right hand on her hip and pouted a little, "Not even a small hello for me..."

Naruto just chuckled, "You know how he is. He's ANBU, he can't display emotions on duty and he must focus on the mission. Don't hold it against him."

"I know but… it's alright", said Kimiko with a slightly saddened gaze.

Naruto gave his sister an encouraging smile, "Don't worry, Nee-chan. He'll come around someday."

"I know, Nii-san.", said Kimiko as Naruto walked over to his siblings and explained to Aiko how she could conjure a third chain without making the other two brittle from lack of control. When he was finished, he looked at the clock, "Imōto-chan, it's almost time for you to return to the academy, your lunch break is almost over!"

Aiko quickly looked at the clock in the kitchen window and from where she stood, she could see that her big brother was right, "Ohh, yeah I almost forgot! Thanks for the help Onee-chan, Onii-chan!" She ran over to her siblings and gave both of them a quick peck on the cheek and left. Naruto sighed when Aiko left the backyard, "The was she develops physically, I'll soon have to beat boys away with a stick, to keep the bad boys away from her…"

Kimiko chuckled at his expense, "You know you don't have to do that. Have faith in her, she will pick the right boy when the time comes.", reassured Kimiko her gain. Naruto smiled lightly, "I know but I can't help but be worried for her. Anyway, I think I'll go see what Tou-chan wants right now." And with that said Naruto took to the rooftops, heading towards the Hokage tower.

Arriving in the Hokage tower, he quickly made his way towards the Hokage office, where he was told his father was already waiting with the person the meeting was about.

He knocked on the door and waited for the 'Enter!' call of his father. Hearing it, he entered the room. He saw his father as usual at his desk with three persons in front of him, ' _Judging from the entries in my bingo book, they're Kirigakure shinobi. What in Kami's name are Kirigakure shinobi doing in Tou-chan's office?_ '

When the door opened, Mei looked at the door and saw Naruto entering, ' _Wow, he's quite the handsome fellow. Wouldn't mind him marrying me…_ ', dreamed Mei as Ao narrowed his eye, ' _So that is the Yondaime Hokage's son, '_ _ **Sharingan no Naruto**_ ' _('_ _ **Naruto of the Sharingan**_ ' _). According to descriptions from bingo book entries of Iwagakure, his Sharingan mastery is astounding. His visual prowess is said to match that of Uchiha Madara... even going as far as awakening the fabled Mangekyō Sharingan… I gotta be in alert, can't have him attack Mei-sama._ '

"Ahh, good that you're here Naruto-kun. We've been waiting for you!", exclaimed Minato happily.

"Of course, Tou-sama. What is this meeting about?", asked Naruto as he bowed to his father first and then bowed to the Kirigakure shinobi in welcome.

"Yes, that's also what I would like to know… would you mind to enlighten us, Mei-dono?" inquired Minato as he turned his gaze from his son to the woman sitting in front of him.

Mei shook herself out of eyeing Naruto like a piece of meat, " Ohh, yeah about the reason we came here...", said Mei suddenly becoming very serious, "We would like to offer Konoha a deal."

Minato's and Naruto's eyes narrowed, as Naruto voiced what Minato thought, "What kind of deal?"

Before Mei could answer, however, Ao interrupted, " Sorry boy, but that is something between leaders."

Naruto countered, "Too bad for you, I have the right to hear the reasons, as I'm one of my fathers' advisors in such situations."

Ao was about to argue more but Mei turned around with a sweet smile, "Ao… shut up or I'll kill you."

Ao sweat profusely and quickly shut himself up from retorting again. Mei turned back to the Hokage and his son, who both just saw the mental picture of their wife/mother in Mei's stead, and apologized, "I'm sorry for Ao's behavior. He can be a little overprotective at times. Now back to the deal. We would like assistance in our rebellion against the current Mizukage, as I'm sure you've heard about him."

Naruto recounted, "Yes, of course. Karatachi Yagura, Yondaime Mizukage, jinchūriki of the Sanbi, known for completely controlling his tenant, and transforming Kirigakure no Sato to Chigiri no Sato (Village of the Bloody Mist). Additionally, he considers all wielders of Kekkei Genkai as demons and called for a purge, creating your rebellion, am I right?"

Mei was astounded that Naruto wasn't just handsome but also intelligent. Meanwhile, Ao Had other problems, "How do you know all that? Not many even in Kirigakure know that Yagura in even a jinchūriki."

Naruto just smirked, "Let's just say, Jiraiya of the Sannin isn't the only one in Konoha with a spy network."

Ao narrowed his visible eye even further but let the case fall. Naruto returned his gaze to Mei as Minato spoke, "What would Konoha gain by allying ourselves with your rebellion?"

"Well, not only would you gain a new ally should a new war arise, but you would also gain Access to one of our Kekkei Genkai of your choice!", stated Mei boldly, hoping to sway them to accept by offering one of their villages Kekkei Genkai.

Ao looked shocked that she would even consider giving out one of their villages 'possessions'. His old-school attitude forbid him from suggesting something like this to another village but he did not want to die here, courtesy of Mei.

Naruto leaned over to his father and whispered, "Tou-chan, we should consider their offer. Not only would we gain a new ally but also the prospect of gaining a new Kekkei Genkai is… exhilarating… and with the movements of Iwagakure lately… they seem to ready their forces for war… damn, I sound like Danzō, don't I?"

Minato only sheepishly nodded his head and scratched it a little. Naruto sighed but recovered and continued, "Although before deciding ultimately, I suggest asking Hiruzen-jiji for advice. His wisdom would be really helpful in this case."

Minato nodded at the logic behind that statement, and addressed Mei, "Before we decide, we will be discussing this offer, with both my primary advisor as well as the council of our village. So, I suggest you rest from your long trip here in the Golden Leaf Hotel until I summon you via an ANBU that we fell a decision. If you want my son here will take you around Konoha for the duration of the talks.", offered Minato.

Mei smiled at the Hokage, "Of course, Hokage-dono. I would very much like to look at Konoha's sights a little. Especially, after this long monotone journey."

Minato smiled back before looking at his son, "Naruto-kun would you please show our guests around Konoha."

Naruto nodded, walked towards the door and opened it motioning for the guests to follow him, "If you would follow me."

Mei smiled sultrily and walked right up to Naruto, winked at him seductively and walked outside followed by Ao and Chōjūrō. Naruto rose an eyebrow at Mei's actions, while Minato chuckled. He closed the door behind him just as Minato called for an ANBU to get Hiruzen to his office.

* * *

 **With Naruto**

"Is there anywhere specific you want to go to?", asked Naruto politely.

"I would really like to see the academy. You know, see how our future allies train their shinobi.", said Mei as she curled one of her bangs around her finger, looking at Naruto's backside, noticing how awfully close his hairstyle was to her own.

Naruto chuckled, "You seem awfully confident, that we will accept your offer, Mei-sama."

Now it was Mei's turn to chuckle, "Of course, I'm a confident person at heart. Also please, don't call me Mei-sama, rather call me Mei-san or Mei-chan. I'm not one for honorifics."

"Very well, Mei-san. Since you're so confident that we'll accept your offer, I guess there'll be no harm done by showing you around the academy grounds. Zetsu!", ordered Naruto suddenly, making Mei and her entourage raise an eyebrow.

They surely did not expect a human-plant hybrid to come out of the grounds, "You called, Naruto-sama?", asked White Zetsu.

"Do you know what imōto-chan's class is doing today?", asked Naruto conversing with White Zetsu, meanwhile, ignoring the activation of Ao's Byakugan, ' _What is this thing? It has no chakra signature at all, yet it seems like it uses chakra quite frequently… what other secrets do you have Namikaze Naruto…? I should stay wary, just in case._ ', were Ao's thoughts before Naruto spoke to them without turning around, "He is the reason we know so much about the civil war plaguing your homeland. Zetsu is the best spy in the Elemental Nations and only second to Nee-chan as a sensor. As you have most likely noticed with that Byakugan of yours, he has no chakra signature making him the ideal spy. He can quite easily infiltrate any area without risking detection."

The Kirigakure shinobi were astounded. To have such an asset at one's disposal… it almost made Ao voice concerns about how Konoha could use that against Kiri but refrained from doing so after remembering Mei's last glare at him.

They walked for a few more minutes until they arrived at the academy grounds, "This is the Konohagakure shinobi academy, where all future shinobi of Konoha begin their career. If we hurry we may witness the afternoon taijutsu spars of my imōto's class!", said Naruto hoping Mei would agree since he really wanted to see his sister fight.

"That would be nice, wouldn't it be Chōjūrō?", said Mei in a kind voice as she turned around to the timid shinobi swordsmen trainee.

"H-Hai, Mei-s-sama.", stuttered Chōjūrō out while blushing a bright red.

Walking quickly to the other side of the academy grounds, they could see the academy teacher, Umino Iruka explaining the rules. Once they entered hearing range they could hear him finishing the explanation, "... and lastly no killing strikes! Your classmates will be your comrades once you graduate so you should not aim to permanently impair them. So first is Yas-". He was interrupted by Aiko pointing behind him and smiling widely, "Look, Iruka-sensei! Onii-chan is coming to watch!"

Iruka turned around to indeed see Naruto approaching together with some Kiri shinobi he didn't recognize, "Ohh, what a pleasant surprise, Naruto-sama. We didn't expect you to visit us today. We were just about to begin our taijutsu spars of the week. If I may ask, who're the Kirigakure shinobi?", explain Iruka seeing the eldest child of the current Hokage.

Naruto rose his hand with a smile, "No need to call me like that. You're the teacher of my sister so there's no need for you to call me with such an honorific. The Kiri shinobi are in order, Terumī Mei, leader of the Kirigakure Bloodline Rebels, and her entourage Ao, and Chōjūrō. By the way, I'm grateful that you're taking good care of my little sister. She can be quite the handful sometimes.", said Naruto playfully teasing his little sister, making Aiko blush in the background out of embarrassment. She didn't expect her elder brother to say something so embarrassing in front of the whole class. Some girls and boys behind her chuckled and giggled seeing the confident Aiko so embarrassed.

Hearing someone giggle about his sister, Naruto's warm smile disappeared and his eyes turned cold. His family was the single most important thing in his life, he would not allow someone to make fun of one of his family members, "Am I hearing someone make fun of my sister?", asked Naruto dangerously, simultaneously activating his Sharingan and leaking a tiny bit of his killing Intention, to scare those particular academy students.

Those giggling and chuckling immediately stopped their actions and looked fearfully at the fifteen-year-old man standing in front of them. There was a reason Naruto was one of the most powerful jōnin in the village, even at his age. One civilian student even wet his pants when experiencing the suffocating feeling of Naruto's killing intent. Mei and her entourage were surprised by the display of power and the underlying danger of his voice, except for Chōjūrō. He was scared of Naruto now, although was simultaneously happy that Naruto was currently in their side, and not their enemy. Meanwhile, Mei's and Ao's thoughts were coincidentally the same, ' _Remember never disrespect or harm his family._ '

Seeing that his message was delivered, Naruto deactivated his Sharingan and lifted his killing intent, "This was not only caused by you making fun of my sister. Making fun of any of your comrades or future comrades is pathetic. This just shows that you've no skills of your own and are taking advantage of a comrade in a weakened moment. Playful teasing between siblings and friends is alright and all but you should be careful not to let it escalate or I'll be forced to discipline you!", the last statement was more of an empty threat since he couldn't legally discipline anyone unless they were his students but they needn't know that, "I'm sorry, Iruka-san, for interrupting you. Please continue."

"I must thank you for that, Naruto-sam… -san. This class can sometimes be a handful to control but I'm sure everyone listened to your warnings… am I right?", asked Iruka rhetorically. The whole class immediately chorussed 'H-Hai!, Iruka-sensei!'

Seeing that the class calmed down, Iruka returned to calling the first match, "Yashiro Harito versus Haruno Sakura!", both academy students walked into the ring. But instead of concentrating in her match as she should've been, Sakura always glanced at Sasuke to see if he was watching, only to see that he was talking to the only person their age he was actively talking to since the Uchiha Massacre, Namikaze Aiko. She seethed, seeing Sasuke only giving his attention to the 'Namikaze whore', although she would never call her that again, Naruto's display of power scared her really badly.

Seeing that his students were ready, Iruka began, "Alright now do the Sign of Confrontation!" Both held up their right hand in a seal, which was imitating the half Ram hand seal. This action was part of a tradition dating back to the time of Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama. With that particular two shinobi signalized that their intent was to have a friendly spar. Every spar would begin with the Seal of Confrontation and end with the Seal of Reconciliation, which consisted of the two sparring members again holding their right hand in a half Ram hand seal, and holding them out to their partner. This time, however, the winner of the spar folds his fingers around the losers fingers, holding them.

"Make sure to impress Naruto-sama and Mei-sama with your fights! Begin!", shouted Iruka as the first spar began. It was a pretty boring fight, but it wasn't a surprise seeing as they were both civilian students with no training before the academy and that they were still academy students. They couldn't get their hopes up to experience a good fight. The fights continued. All the civilian shinobi hopefuls fought against each other, to prevent 'unfair' matches from existing. Still, even some clan heirs, as were all the clan shinobi in the class, except for Aiko, had 'bad' fights. The Aburame Clan heir, Aburame Shino, was one of them but his case was excusable since it is unusual for Aburame clan members to fight using taijutsu. The Nara and Yamanaka Clan members were also understandable, but not excusable. The Nara clan heir didn't even fight and immediately surrendered and the Yamanaka heiress just had pathetic taijutsu skills, due to her dieting to look as beautiful as possible for her 'Sasuke-kun', a problem which she shared with the Haruno girl.

The Inuzuka heir and the Hyūga heiress did wonderfully in their spars, which was not surprising considering their clan affiliation. The Akimichi heir would've most likely done well as well, hadn't the Nara heir immediately surrendered.

Lastly, the fight of the last two students was called, "May Uchiha Sasuke and Namikaze Aiko please step into the ring and perform the Seal of Confrontation!", called Iruka.

Sasuke and Aiko stepped forward, into the ring. Everyone was excited about this spar, Iruka and the class because they both were at the top of the class, Rookie of the year and Kunoichi of the year respectively. Naruto was excited because he wanted to see his sister fighting using only taijutsu since if she asked for taijutsu lessons at home it would be Kimiko helping her since she was better at taijutsu than Naruto. And lastly, Mei and her entourage were intrigued to see how one of the last Uchiha would do against the youngest child of the current Hokage.

Sasuke and Aiko performed the Seal of Confrontation and waited for Iruka to start the match. Seeing that both students were ready, Iruka rose his left arm before thrusting it downward quickly, signaling the start of the match with a cry of, "Begin!"

Sasuke and Aiko sped forward, mustering as much speed as they could, which was surprisingly already at genin level. That alone was already impressive, considering that both were only in the academy for about two years. When they met in the middle of the ring, they engaged each other in a fierce, for academy students fierce, taijutsu battle. Sasuke began by using the basic stance of the Uchiha's ' **Bōjuken** ' (' **Intercepting Fist** '). Naruto himself was taught the style by his sensei and helped by his best friend Itachi, thus making him more than proficient in it. The basic stance was designed so that even someone without the Sharingan, or an Uchiha who hadn't awoken the Sharingan yet, could use it. It consisted mostly of redirecting and parrying strikes, complemented by the visual prowess of the Sharingan, but also some aggressive attacks such as kicks, leg-sweeps, and punches at several vital spots of the body.

Sasuke threw a punch at Aiko's temple, hoping to quickly end the battle. His hopes went down rather quickly down the drain, as Aiko easily dodged the punch by leaning back. Supporting herself with her hands on the ground, Aiko kicked upwards, trying to hit Sasuke in the chin. Sasuke, however, leaned back slightly to avoid the kick and tried to sweep Aiko's hands from the ground. Seeing what Sasuke was doing, Aiko jumped back and somersaulted mid-air and landed on her feet, a few yards away. Upon landing, she saw Sasuke, already in front of her. He attempted to strike her in the temple with his right fist again but was unsuccessful, as Aiko brought up her left hand to block. Continuing onwards, Sasuke used his left fist to hit Aiko in the solar plexus. His strike was once again blocked as Aiko caught his hand in her right palm. Before he could free his hand, he was quite powerfully kicked in the stomach by Aiko. He skidded across the ground a bit but luckily came to a stop before leaving the sparring circle. He had no time to recover, however, as Aiko was upon him and tried to hit his prone form. He rolled out of the way, avoiding the punch that even left a small crater on the ground.

Aiko learned her taijutsu style from Kimiko, who in turn tweaked the Senju's ' **Yaburuken** ' (' **Smashing Fist** '). This taijutsu style was unused for a long time before Senju Tsunade learned it, due to it not being as 'graceful' as the Uchiha's taijutsu style of weaving in and out of attacks. The Senju's taijutsu style was made to smash, literally. Tsunade, the last living member of the Senju Clan, was the first to learn this style since the beginning of the clan. Kimiko wasn't taught the style by Tsunade herself but used the same scrolls Tsunade used back then to self-teach herself. She even tweaked the style to be even more deadly. Kimiko would switch between using the bone-shattering punches through enhancing her fists with chakra or use the normal style of the taijutsu style without enhancing her fists with chakra. But in that case, she would use ninjutsu to enhance her taijutsu, creating a nintaijutsu style, which she called, ' **Tsukiyaburuken** ' (' **Piercing Fist** '). She named it like this to symbolize the origin of her taijutsu style. Every punch while using this style was deadly. She would use the ' **Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu** ' (' **Wood Release: Cutting Technique** '). Normally, the stakes created by this jutsu would rise out of the ground, but in this case, Kimiko would protrude the staked from her fists. Upon contact with skin, the stakes would branch out throughout the target's body. This would cause every single of her hitting punches to pierce multiple vital organs, instantly killing any hit opponent, leaving a rather mutilated corpse. Of course, Aiko couldn't learn this taijutsu style due to her lack of the mokuton, but she could use the brawler like ' **Yaburuken** ' (' **Smashing Fist** ').

That said, Sasuke was pretty happy that he dodged that struck. She could've cracked a bone with her current strength. He quickly stood up and rushed Aiko. She prepared herself for the incoming Sasuke. Once again they were caught up in a fierce looking taijutsu battle, which looked cute to Naruto, Mei, and Ao. At the end of their skirmish, both hit their opponent with a fist to the face, but both remained standing, refusing to lose. Sasuke was panting quite heavily after their strenuous spar. Aiko, meanwhile, looked like she could keep going, but her body wasn't matured yet, so she was panting slightly. Seeing no direct winner, Iruka stepped forward and held up both Sasuke's and Aiko's hands, declaring the spar as a draw, "Now both of you, form the Seal of Reconciliation so we can finish for the day.", ordered Iruka and both sparring members first retracted their fists, which were still at each other's faces, and then formed the Seal of Reconciliation with a small smile from Sasuke and a big mega-watt smile from Aiko.

Iruka then quickly explained what they would do the next day and then dismissed them for the day. Once they were officially dismissed, Aiko ran over to her elder brother and started asking, "Onii-chan, did you see that?"

Naruto found it amusing, as did Mei who also wanted to cuddle Aiko to death seeing her smile, "Of course, I saw it imōto-chan. I saw your whole fight. I'm proud of you, you know. How about we go look around the village and maybe, Mei-san may even answer a few questions you have if you're nice. Am I wrong, Mei-san?", asked Naruto glancing over to Mei.

Mei smiled and nodded, "Of course, I can do that.", assured Mei and Aiko grew a big grin on her face.

"Really? That's sooo cool! Hmm...", said Aiko as she had a concentrated look on her face, trying to think of a fitting question while climbing on Naruto's back. They started their trek through the village once again, this time heading towards the Hokage monument.

"Oh, I got one! Who are you?", asked Aiko innocently. Still, it caused Mei, Ao, and even Chōjūrō to face-fault, not believing the child's question. Naruto just laughed whole-heartedly, causing Aiko to laugh with him. Once they recovered from Aiko's question, Mei answered with a smile, "Well, my name is Terumī Mei, and I'm the Leader of the Bloodline Rebels of Kirigakure. This is my right-hand man, Ao, and this is the youngest of our shinobi, Chōjūrō!", introduced Mei.

"Aren't rebels criminals? And if not, who're you rebelling against?", asked Aiko with a risen eyebrow. As far as she knew, rebels are those that want to cause trouble at the expense of society. Mei just smiled though, "Well, there are two types of rebels. First, there are those you must be thinking about. Rebels that want to gain political power by overthrowing one's government for their own selfish gains. Such a rebellion was once in ' **Na no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Vegetables** '). But our rebellion is more of a rebellion seeking the freedom of our people. For context, you must know that the current Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, was once a very peaceful person and a man deserving the title of Mizukage. I once even admired the man for his skill and power. But one day out of the blue, he started hating those who possessed Kekkei Genkai, such as me, for I wield not only one but two Kekkei Genkai. He used propaganda to convince the general shinobi population of Kirigakure that those with Kekkei Genkai are just demons in man's hide. That was ironic really since he himself housed a demon, the ' **Sanbi no Kyodaigame** ' (' **Three-Tailed Giant Turtle** '). But soon enough he convinced the populous of Kirigakure of his ideals and started a purge to exterminate all Kekkei Genkai wielders in ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** '). That was also the moment ' **Kirigakure no Sato** ' (' **Village Hidden in the Mist** ') became ' **Chigiri no Sato** ' (' **Village of the Bloody Mist** '). We fight to return Chigiri back to Kirigakure.", explained Mei to Aiko who now had a somber face, "Sounds bad..."

Mei just kept her warm smile, "That's why we're here. We seek the help of Konohagakure to overthrow Yagura and end his tyranny." This caused Aiko to smile widely, "Then don't worry, Tou-chan will help you, I know it!", declared Aiko confidently.

Naruto smiled and offered his own opinion of the matter. During their discussion of this matter, they bought themselves some ice cream, mostly after Aiko bothered them enough to relent, and arrived at the Hokage monument. To be exact they now stood on top of the Yondaime Hokage's stone head, "That's the best view of Konoha you can find. This was also the place where Shodai Hokage-sama and Uchiha Madara created their dream of uniting shinobi clans into the village we now know as Konohagakure.", explained Naruto as he sat down beside Aiko who was just looking at all the people walking around in the village. Mei sat down next to them with Ao and Chōjūrō behind her.

"It sure is a beautiful view, I must admit.", said Mei as she enjoyed the fresh breeze up there and the warm rays of the sun. Unfortunately, for her, an ANBU interrupted the enjoyable moment, "Mei-san, Naruto-sama. Hokage-sama and the council have decided on what action they should take."

Naruto's face became stoic, "Understood, we'll be there shortly.", with that said the ANBU disappeared again. Naruto turned to Aiko, "We must go now. If you want you can stay up here but remember to be there for dinner or Kaa-chan will kill me.", said Naruto with a nervous smile while rubbing the back of his head, eerily similar to his father.

Aiko gave her big brother a wide smile, "No problem, Onii-chan! See ya later!", said Aiko as she jumped up and ran towards the Namikaze compound. Naruto smiled after his sister but soon stood up and ushered the entourage to follow him via shunshin. He and the Kiri entourage shunshinned directly into the council chambers. Once they arrived, Naruto dismissed himself and left.

Looking around herself, Mei could spot all the important figures of the Konoha council, except for the civilian council part as they've been losing power since Danzō's demise. The shinobi council consisted of: Inuzuka Tsume, matriarch of the Inuzuka Clan; Aburame Shibi, patriarch of the Aburame Clan; Hyūga Hiashi, patriarch of the Hyūga Clan; Nara Shikaku, patriarch of the Nara Clan and jōnin commander of Konoha; Akimichi Chōza, patriarch of the Akimichi Clan; Yamanaka Inoichi, patriarch of the Yamanaka Clan and head of the Torture and Interrogation Division of Konoha; Uchiha Mikoto, matriarch of the Uchiha Clan; Sarutobi Hiruzen, patriarch of the Sarutobi Clan, Sandaime Hokage, and chief-advisor of the Yondaime Hokage; and lastly two empty seats. One for the now almost extinct Senju Clan and one for the Namikaze Clan but the Namikaze Clan wasn't featured in the council right now as the current Hokage was of the Namikaze Clan. Additionally, there were also two elders present. The former teammates of Sarutobi Hiruzen: Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. And Mei stood directly in the middle of these chambers filled with powerful individuals.

"Mei-dono, we have extensively discussed your proposition of helping your faction in the Kirigakure Civil War. We have a condition, however...", started Minato with a look on his face that screamed business. Mei sat down at the table in front of her and nodded to the Hokage, asking him to continue.

Minato wanted to begin when Koharu rashly started first, "We demand that you hand over some of Kirigakure's native Kekkei Genkai after we defeated the current Mizukage's regime!"

Minato looked at Mei. Mei could see in his face that the demand was just a rant by an old senile woman, thus she ignored it and ushered Minato to begin, "So, as I wanted to say before my 'advisor' rudely interrupted me, we have a condition for our intervention in your civil war. If we win the war, Kiri will hand over a few suiton jutsu since Konoha seems to be lacking in them and our suiton users have a rather small jutsu arsenal. The rest is the standard procedure, making sure that our deployed shinobi are treated well during their time in the field, making sure they're treated well, etc."

Mei looked at Minato and nodded while thinking, ' _So, the standard conditions. I don't have a problem with sharing a few of Kiri's suiton jutsus as long as we defeat Yagura and his forces._ '

"That's agreeable, Hokage-dono.", agreed Mei.

"Very well, but I must first warn you. Due to rather recent events, like the Kyūbi's attack and ' **Daisanji Ninkai Taisen** ' (' **Third Great Shinobi War** ') we are currently still recovering and cannot expend many shinobi without severely crippling our economy. Thus we're only able to send two squads of four, consisting of three elite jōnin and one chūnin medic.", explained Minato with a serious look on his face.

"If I may know the names of the ones you send to help me?", asked Mei politely, completely understanding Konoha's predicament of wanting to help but also not being able to really help.

"Squad One consists of Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, and Sarutobi Asuma as the jōnin force and the chūnin medic will be Oyone of the Medical Corps. Squad Two consists of Namikaze Naruto, Namikaze Kimiko, Uchiha Itachi, and a chūnin combat medic by the name of Uchiha Ikuho.", explained Minato.

Mei rubbed her chin in thought. They may not be that many shinobi, but they're the elite of Konoha. ' **Sharingan no Kakashi** ' (' **Kakashi of the Sharingan** '), ' **Konoha no Kedakaki Aoi Mōjū** ' (' **Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey** '), the son of the Sandaime Hokage, ' **Mokuton no Kimiko** ' (' **Kimiko of the Wood Release** '), ' **Sharingan no Itachi** ' ( **Itachi of the Sharingan** '), and lastly ' **Sharingan no Naruto** ' (' **Naruto of the Sharingan** ') with his special ability ' **Dorei no me** ' (' **Enslaving Eye** '). Coming out of her thoughts, she nodded towards Minato, "I agree with the condition, Hokage-dono, and promise to treat your shinobi well for the duration of their deployment!"

Minato smiled at her, "Very well then, you shall come to my office tomorrow morning, at 10 am sharp, to collect my shinobi there."

Mei nodded and stood up with a warm smile on her face, "Understood. I thank you, Hokage-dono."

Minato nodded back and dismissed her and the council. Mei left with her entourage towards the Golden Leaf Hotel to rest before their journey back to the rebel's headquarters. At the same time, Minato returned to the Namikaze compound for dinner.

* * *

 **Namikaze compound**

Minato arrived to see his family at the dinner table. Kushina was currently finishing dinner while Naruto and Kimiko were playing with Aiko, drawing grimaces to make Aiko laugh. It worked wonderfully as Aiko's laughter was heard throughout the whole compound. Kushina herself smiled at her children's antics as she cooked. Kimiko noticed Minato first and smiled at her father, "Oh, you're home early today, Tou-chan."

Minato smiled back at her but soon after steeled himself. After all, he was about to send his two eldest children to war, "Naruto-kun, Kimiko-chan? Could you please come with me to my office?"

Both rose an eyebrow as did Kushina in confusion and Aiko looked around, confused the most. Soon after though, Naruto and Kimiko looked at each other and nodded at their father, following in his stead. Wanting to satisfy her own curiosity, Aiko decided to follow them. They entered Minato's office in the Namikaze compound and he turned around, his eyes showing slight sadness although he hid it quickly. Unluckily, not quickly enough for his son's sharp eyes. Kimiko noticed it too but didn't comment on it.

"What's wrong, Tou-chan?", asked Naruto hoping to get back to Aiko quickly.

Minato took a deep breath to calm himself down and looked his children directly in the eyes, "I'm sending both of you on a long-term mission, together with Itachi! Also, your squad will be complemented by a chūnin medic. Also, there's another squad I'm sending on the same mission. It consists of Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Maito Gai, and another chūnin medic!", declared Minato. Naruto and Kimiko were shocked as they were never given a long-term mission before. Their shock was large enough, not to notice the now teary eyes of a little Aiko who has been eavesdropping on their conversation. Even though she wasn't a shinobi yet, she knew how long a long-term mission was, at least a year if not longer.

Aiko ran to her room before she could hear the rest of the conversation, "What are the details of the mission, Tou-chan?", asked Kimiko as Naruto was distracted due to hearing silent steps through the hallway, moving away from the office. Naruto shortly narrowed his eyes at the direction of the door but soon after returned his gaze onto his father, to hear the details of the mission.

"To better our future relations with Kirigakure, the council has decided to aid the Bloodline Rebels in their Civil War to defeat the current Mizukage. But due to Konoha being weakened by the ' **Daisanji Ninkai Taisen** ' (' **Third Great Shinobi War** '), we are only able to send two squads, thus we decided to at least send them our elite.", explained Minato.

Naruto closed his eyes and let the information sink in. He, his sister, his friends... they all would be sent to war. He vowed himself that no matter what, he'll protect all of them. He opened his eyes with newfound determination, only to see his sister with the same look in her eyes, smirking at him, "Nothing can and will stop us, eh Nii-san?"

Naruto smirked back, "Sure thing, Nee-chan!"

Minato smiled at both of his children. They took it better than he thought they would. Of course, he was prepared to sleep on the couch for quite some time, when Kushina found out that he sent their eldest children to war. Encouraging them to go to the chūnin exams is one thing, but sending one's children to war was another. His musings were interrupted by his son's voice, "Tou-chan how long will we be deployed?"

"Well, we think at the most fo-", started Minato but was immediately interrupted again, "I'm sorry, Tou-chan, but I want, no, I _must_ be back in two years at the most!", declared Naruto firmly.

Minato's face scrunched up in thought. Why would Naruto need to be back in two years? His questions were answered when Naruto elaborated, "I will be back when imōto-chan graduates!"

Minato looked surprised for about one second before a loving smile graced his face. Naruto would even disregard an order by the Hokage, which could mean the revoking of one's shinobi license, just to be present when his little sister graduates. Minato nodded, "Alright, I understand. I will search for a replacement squad so you can witness Aiko-chan's graduation, and I may even have a surprise for you once you return.", said Minato with his smile still in place. Minato's last statement gained him a risen eyebrow by Naruto but he guessed that Minato wouldn't elaborate further. After all, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore if Minato told him what it was right away.

"Thank you, Tou-chan.", ended Naruto with a smile and turned around leaving the room with Kimiko on his heel. Kimiko was about to turn right, the way back to the kitchen, when she saw Naruto take a left turn, "Nii-san, are you going to your room now? Dinner is almost ready.", reminded Kimiko her twin.

Naruto turned around and smiled, "There is a certain someone who is sad right now, and I need to calm this someone down."

Kimiko eyes widened for a second before she smiled, "Very well, I'll leave it to you.", and with that said Kimiko returned on her way to the kitchen. Naruto stood still for a few more seconds before returning on his own way, to Aiko's room. Soon after he arrived at the closed door, decorated with stickers of kunai and shuriken, but also chibi versions of dogs, or rather wolves, toads, and a self-drawn picture of the Namikaze family from when she was four. Naruto smiled at the memories of these times when he was still in the academy and could spend the whole day together with Kimiko and Aiko. His thoughts were soon interrupted when he heard soft sobs from inside. He sighed softly and opened the door, only to witness a scene he never wanted to see. His kind, energetic little sister in such a sad state. She didn't even react to the opening of her door, not even the slightest movement except for the twitching of her shoulders whenever she sniffled.

Naruto entered the room and closed the door behind him. He went towards Aiko's bed, where she was lying with her face buried in her pillow. He sat down beside Aiko and looked out of the big window she had next to her bed. From the position he sat in, one could see the beautiful shade of orange, which was preoccupying the borders of the horizon, making space for the stars to decorate the night sky. He shook Aiko a little to make her look up at him. She hesitantly looked up at him and saw his usual smile he only wore around his family. It wasn`t the kind of smile you show to everyone, just to those you love dearly. She sniffled again when Naruto motioned her to sit up straight and allowed her to lean on his shoulder. She complied and leaned on his shoulder. Seeing tears still flowing on her face, Naruto wiped them away with the back of his hand.

Sniffling for the last time, Aiko calmed herself down... a little. She wanted to tell Naruto to stay here but Naruto spoke before she could, "You don't want me to go to Kirigakure, right?"

Aiko nodded timidly, hoping her elder brother wouldn't see her as a cry baby. Unbeknownst to her, she could actually be everything she wanted and Naruto would still be proud of her, "Do you fear that I'll be killed in action in Kirigakure?", inquired Naruto, once again receiving a nod. Naruto though only smiled, "Look at the stars. Every single one of them was once a shinobi, who died fighting and protecting the giant tree which is known as Konoha. The brightest of those are who sacrificed themselves for the well-being of their comrades and loved ones. Even the former Hokage, Shodai-sama and Nidaime-sama, who died protecting their subordinates are up there. Do you understand what I want to say?"

Aiko looked at the stars, trying to figure out exactly what her brother was telling her. Luckily for her, he soon came to her rescue, "It is no problem if you don't understand. After all, even me and Nee-chan didn't understand that when Hiruzen-jiji said the same to us, trying to comfort us when Tou-chan was deployed in the ' **Daisanji Ninkai Taisen** ' (' **Third Great Shinobi War** '). We were scared of what would happen to Tou-chan. He could've been captured by Iwagakure shinobi and tortured or worse. But then Hiruzen-jiji came to comfort us with those same words I just said. When we didn't understand the underlying message he elaborated kindly:", said Naruto and briefly stopped, remembering what Hiruzen said back then, ' _It means that even if someone falls on the battlefield, they will always continue to watch over us from the realm above. Their physical body may be not here on this plane anymore but their love and warmth will continue to reach us, even from beyond the grave. Aside from that, Minato is one of the strongest shinobi we currently have in Konoha, so there is no need to worry. He'll be back, no matter what. That is the strength of his love for you two, Kushina-chan, and the whole village!_ '

"He said, 'It means that even if someone falls on the battlefield, they will always continue to watch over us from the realm above. Their physical body may be not here on this plane anymore but their love and warmth will continue to reach us, even from beyond the grave.'", he made a slight pause but quickly continued, "The next part of his explanation is a bit adjusted, 'Aside from that, me and Nee-chan are two of the strongest shinobi we currently have in Konoha, so there is no need to worry. We'll be back, no matter what. That is the strength of our love for you, Kaa-chan, Tou-chan, and the whole village!'", declared Naruto pulling his little sister closer, "And if that isn't enough I have something else to reassure you, that we're both alright. Give me your necklace for a second.", said Naruto as he held out his right hand.

Aiko put her hand on her neck and pulled off the necklace that Naruto and Kimiko gifted her when they returned from their first C-Rank mission. She never showed it in public as she treasured it too much, thus she always kept it below her shirt. The sapphire in the middle was still shining the same as the day they bought it. The decorations around it were clean and showed no sign of erosion. Naruto took the necklace in his right palm and bit the tip of his left index finger with his slightly elongated canines, which he gained through his bonding with his Wolf summons. He drew a tiny bit of blood which he infused with chakra and drew a small seal on the back of the necklace, "I may not be as good as Tou-chan or Kaa-chan, or even Nee-chan in fūinjutsu but I'm knowledgable enough to draw this seal. Actually, this seal is the greatest reason I wanted to learn fūinjutsu. This is a seal I developed for the sole reason of telling you, how we're doing. Judging by the feeling we experience, the seal will release heat. For example, the happier we feel, the more of a pleasant heat the seal give off. Another example would be sadness. Should we feel sad, the seal will show it to you, by getting colder, though still in the pleasant area... and should we die...", began Naruto as he watched Aiko suddenly tense up, letting the necklace fall unceremoniously on her developing chest, "Should we die... the seal gives off an intense cold. You will recognize it should it happen. But know this, you'll always be in here..., "said Naruto as he pointed at his heart, "...just as much as me and Nee-chan will always be in here.", said Naruto as he poked Aiko in the middle of her chest, just where her heart was located. He then pulled Aiko in a hug which Aiko returned with her full might, also starting to sob a little again. Naruto smiled again though and kissed Aiko on the top of her head as she snuggled further into his chest, trying to get as much warmth from her elder brother as possible.

They sat there for a few minutes simply hugging each other when they heard furious shouting from the kitchen downstairs, "DID YOU REALLY THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO SEND OUR BABIES TO LITERAL WAR?! NAMIKAZE MINATO I HOPE YOU'VE READIED YOURSELF FOR YOUR PUNISHMENT! YOU'LL SLEEP ON THE COUCH FOR THE NEXT MONTH!", declared Kushina so angered that she forgot to keep her voice down enough to avoid neighbors from noticing. Unfortunately, due to Kushina forgetting that, half the village heard her and the painful screams of their Hokage as he was being punished by his wife using her female fury.

Naruto and Aiko looked each other in the eyes and started to laugh, "I think we should go down there... I doubt even Nee-chan will be able to subdue Kaa-chan in this state with her Mokuton." Looking at the laughing Aiko, who looked so serene right now, that one doubted she just cried for a long time. Moments like these are what remembers one what one fights for. This is what Naruto and Kimiko vowed to protect now almost 16 years ago. Slowly starting to stand up to go to dinner with Aiko, he felt Aiko's grip reinforcing. He looked back at her, to see her eyes again a little teary, "Onii-chan, when will you two be back?"

Naruto smiled again and wiped her tears away, "I demanded from Tou-chan to let us return to your graduation at the latest!"

This caused Aiko to smile widely. Knowing when her big siblings would return would set her heart at rest... at least a little. "Come let's go eat dinner, and afterward how about we play a little and I'll read you a good night story?", offered Naruto and received a whole lot of happy nods as Aiko stood up and walked right next to her brother downstairs to dinner.

* * *

 **Next day, Hokage office**

"Team Kakashi, Team Naruto you will return with Mei-dono to Kirigakure and assist the Rebel forces in the Civil War against the Yondaime Mizukage. As decided by the council, each team consists of three jōnin and one chūnin medic. Understood?", briefed Minato and received a chorus of, "Hai, Hokage-sama/Tou-sama!"

"As far as I know, the medics will arrive here shortly, and you'll be rendezvousing with Mei at the East Gate. You'll also be seen off by your families and friends, as well as me and the ANBU captains.", told Minato the six shinobi in front of him. This time they only nodded back. At the same time, the door to the office opened and two shinobi in chūnin attire entered, both also wearing insignia of the Medical Corps of Konoha. The first had a short crop of straight black hair that hanged down to her cheeks, framing the face. She was of average height and looked to be a few years younger than Kakashi.

The other however was mind-boggling. She was around Naruto's and Kimiko's age, had straight black hair, which reached her lower back, thus she had to tie it together in a ponytail, as well as onyx colored eyes. Her face had a perfect heart-shape, which Naruto only ever saw on his mother's face, a cute little nose, and scarlet red lips. Her bust was just as developed as Kimiko's was at the moment, meaning around the D-Cup, and lastly, Naruto couldn't resist his little inner pervert and also stole a glimpse of her butt, which was quite busty for her age. She wore a standard chūnin attire, complemented by her medic insignia and her forehead protector was tied around her forehead. She looked like she had a cheerful attitude but such guesses were worth nothing in the shinobi world. Even cheerful persons could become cold killers on the battlefield, a prime example being Naruto. Always a warm and caring person, but once someone threatens a comrade or family member, Naruto becomes as cold as the winter.

Naruto couldn't help but blush when he saw her but hid it within the high collar of his mantle. She also blushed when she saw Naruto as both weren't informed that the other was part of the mission. They both thought at the same time, ' _It's Naruto-kun/Ikuho-chan!_ '

Both looked towards Minato who had an amused smile on his face, "I see you two are already familiar with each other and as far as I know, Kimiko-chan and Itachi-kun are as well. The medic-nin assigned to Team Naruto for the duration of this mission will be... Uchiha Ikuho!"

* * *

 **Author note: I'm finally back from Japan, yay, and I gotta say it's quite the experience to be there. Of course, the time in Japan was better than the twelve-hour flight there, *insert exhausted sighing face*. Anyways, I wanted to release this chapter two days ago but I had quite the writers' block and couldn't think of good ways to introduce Ikuho but I think the way I presented her in this chapter was quite alright... I hope.**

 **The newest arc of this fanfiction, the Kirigakure Civil War. I planned a few things to happen during this arc but I ain't gonna spoil what happens.**

 **Well, I'm back now, so I hope I'll return to my previous ability to update almost weekly. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to reading your reviews. Until the next installment of this fanfiction then. See ya!**


	12. Kirigakure Civil War: Part I

**Chapter 12**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon or Black Zetsu Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon or Black Zetsu Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OC characters I create. If Naruto's 'Talk no Jutsu' can defeat anyone (except for Madara), and as such is considered the strongest, is Itachi's 'Talk no Jutsu' even more powerful since he defeated Naruto in a battle of 'Talk no Jutsu'? So basically, Itachi for Hokage, best 'Talk no Jutsu', literally unbeatable.**

* * *

 **Konohagakure, East Gate**

"No need to cry imōto-chan, two years will be over faster than you may think.", said Kimiko as she embraced Aiko in a hug, trying her best to comfort the little girl. In vain it seemed, since she just kept on crying, "But before we go, let me tell you some things, alright?", asked Kimiko.

Aiko wiped away her tears to listen to her elder sister, "Since we're going to be gone, one will have to keep Kaa-chan from killing Tou-chan, can you do that?", asked Kimiko playfully while receiving a mock glare from Kushina.

Aiko nodded fervously while grinning widely, "I will, Onee-chan! I'll still miss you!"

Kimiko hugged her again, "Don't worry about that! Two years are over faster than you may think. And so we can stay in contact, Nii-san will send a summon back to you every week, so you can tell us what happened in the village while we're away."

Looking up, Kimiko saw Naruto finished saying goodbye to their parents. She stood up to tell their parents goodbye herself and so he could say goodbye to their little sister as well, "I guess Nee-chan already told you anything I may wanted to tell you as well... but well, know that we'll come back in two years, and that nothing will keep me from witnessing your graduation, not even death itself could separate me from you!", declared Naruto confidently.

And just as he expected, Aiko threw herself on Naruto and tried to hug him to death, "Promise me, you'll both stay safe, Onii-chan. I don't think I could live without you two.", whispered Aiko, tears once again threatening to fall. Naruto smiled and nodded, "I promise.", he whispered back.

Looking over to his best friend, who was saying goodbye to his little brother at the moment, Naruto smirked. He leaned over to Aiko and whispered something just loud enough for Itachi and Sasuke to hear, "And continue to beat Sasuke's ass in the academy.", at the end of his little taunt, Naruto blinked towards Aiko, who giggled and nodded. Naruto smiled and patted her on the head and joined his sister, who was already walking over to Mei.

Meanwhile, Itachi said goodbye to Sasuke after he already said goodbye to his mother/sensei, who was crying over her eldest son going to war. As Itachi approached Sasuke, he actually hesitated for a few seconds as he didn't know if Sasuke would actually appreciate him saying goodbye to him after he killed their father. Sasuke was meanwhile having a mental debate with himself while looking thoughtful and drawing circles on the ground with his foot; could he forgive the man who killed their father and was responsible for the downfall of many of his clan members.

Itachi finally gathered up his confidence and walked to Sasuke. He knelt down in front of him, now matching his height, "Goodbye Sasuke. I'll see you in two years. I hope you'll not neglect your studies in the academy, as useless as they may seem."

Itachi then stood up and went to leave but a hand grabbing his sleeve stopped him. He turned around and saw Sasuke being the culprit. He would've risen an eyebrow hadn't he heard what Sasuke whispered to him, "Please, Nii-san, please be careful. I don't want to lose you as well. Tou-san's death was enough already, another death in our family... I don't think I could mentally handle it.", after finishing his little speech, Sasuke looked up at Itachi, meeting his gaze.

Those words alone made Itachi almost cry tears of joy. These words just confirmed that Sasuke still cared about Itachi as his brother and forgave him. Itachi fell on his knees and hugged Sasuke, his beforehand not falling tears, now falling freely onto the ground. Mikoto herself was smiling at the scene before her, ' _Maybe the emotional wounds are finally healing..._ '

When Itachi broke the hug, he heard Naruto's taunt, "And continue to beat Sasuke's ass in the academy.", when he heard that he looked at Sasuke who also heard it, and Sasuke smirked at his elder brother, who copied the smirk quite perfectly, "I guess you know what to do, eh Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded and glanced towards Naruto who was already walking towards the Kiri entourage, "Yeah, I gotta secure my place as the best of the class!"

Itachi smiled, "That's the spirit. Goodbye Sasuke!", one last hug and they separated for the coming two years. Itachi stood up and met up with his squad, now consisting of a new member, namely the sister of his childhood friend Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Ikuho. They nodded towards the Kiri entourage and the other Konoha Squad, who already finished saying their goodbyes. Mei nodded back, "Very well, we must hurry back to Kiri, I can't leave the rebel headquarters for long or the Mizukage might find out."

Everyone nodded and they walked slowly for a few yards while waving back towards their families. The loudest of which were Aiko and Kushina who were quite loudly shouting, "WE'LL MISS YOU TWO! AND DON'T YOU DARE DIE OR I'LL DRAG YOU BACK FROM THE AFTERLIFE AND KILL YOU MYSELF!", the last shout was mainly Kushina but Aiko decided to join in at the end.

The twins chuckled to themselves and then all the shinobi jumped into the treeline. The crowd to say goodbye now started to disband. Minato and Kushina were about to leave but noticed Aiko was still looking at the spot where her siblings disappeared. They could see tears falling to the ground. They moved to their youngest to comfort her but once in front of her they saw her with closed eyes and a genuine smile on her face, "I'll see you in two years, Onii-chan, Onee-chan! I'll be the best to graduate the academy, 'ttebasa!"

Minato and Kushina looked at each other and smiled, "Well, Aiko how about we go eat at Ichiraku's ramen, all you can eat?", asked Minato.

Aiko perked up and smiled widely, "Yes, thank you Tou-chan!", Minato was then dragged like a ragdoll behind both his wife and youngest child who was sprinting towards the ramen restaurant, ' _What's gotten Kushina this excited? Wait... OH NO! BY SAYING ALL YOU CAN EAT WITHOUT SPECIFICATION... NOOOO, KUSHINA CAN EAT AS MUCH AS SHE WANTS AS WELL! My poor wallet..._ ', thought Minato, crying anime-tears.

* * *

 **With Naruto's group**

"Say Ikuho, how were things after the academy? I don't remember seeing you after we three left the academy?", inquired Naruto hiding a small blush under his high-collar as he found Ikuho to have developed into quite the attractive woman. Unluckily for Naruto though, Kimiko spotted his blush and grinned deviously, ' _Ohhh I will sooo tease you Nii-san!_ '

Ikuho herself trying to hide her blush answered, "Well, after you three left the academy after a single year, I was determined to follow you as quickly as possible but I stayed for all four years in the academy. After I graduated I was in a genin squad with an arrogant Hyūga, who always said that his Byakugan was superior to my not yet awakened Sharingan, and a quite nice Sarutobi girl, who unfortunately died on a mission about two months after we two made chūnin. Our jōnin sensei was a Nara Clan member so he basically told us what to do and then slept the rest of the training session.", said Ikuho, making the three listeners, namely Naruto, Kimio, and Itachi, sweatdrop.

"Well, after the chūnin exams I took a liking to iryō ninjutsu and trained in the hospital to become a medic-nin. And here I am on the way to Kirigakure with you three.", finished Ikuho as she smiled at all of them. Itachi nodded at her and focussed back on the way ahead, Kimiko smiled back and also focussed back on the way before them. Only Naruto had problems to look away from that beautiful smile, ' _Get a hang of yourself Naruto! I know you want to kiss her bu- WHAT?! The hell's happening to me? I've never felt something like this whenever I saw a girl. It couldn't be a crush... could it?_ ', Naruto quickly stopped his train of thought and refocussed himself. Ikuho noticed his prolonged look at her and giggled silently, ' _Maybe... I still have a chance with him..._ ', thought Ikuho dreamily as she thought a bit more about her crush she had since the academy. Yet fortunately, she never became a fangirl or Naruto would have rejected her the way he rejected all fangirls... by screaming at the top of his lungs and running for his life, his fangirls directly on his heel, just like they were on Itachi's. The only obstacle in the fangirls way being Naruto's twin, Kimiko who scared the fangirls away.

They continued their travel for the next two days to reach the border to ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** '). The travel was rather uninteresting as nothing really happened other than small-talk. On the third day of travel, however, just a few hours after landing on the second small island that surrounded the main island of ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** '), Kimiko rose her hand, indicating a stop.

As they stopped to a halt, Mei approached Kimiko, "Why did we stop. We shoul-?"

Kimiko put her index finger on Mei's mouth, shutting her up. Ao was about to threaten Kimiko but then he sensed the same thing Kimiko felt. They were completely surrounded and he didn't recognize the chakra signatures, meaning they could only be from the Mizukage loyalists troops. ' _Zetsu. Place a spore on every single one of the Mizukage loyalists and restrain them at my command!_ ', thought Kimiko as she used her mental connection to Zetsu to give him orders. If Zetsu would've been above the ground one could see him nod but he was underground so he answered telepathically, ' _As you wish, Kimiko-sama._ '

Zetsu subtly placed spores on all Mizukage loyalists and retreated again. During this time the loyalists also decided to make their presence known, "Terumī Mei, you're hereby under arrest for treason and the harboring of Kekkei Genkai wielders as well as having two yourself!", said the now revealed leader of the Hunter-nin unit. He wore standard Kirigakure Hunter-nin attire, a grey flak jacket, beneath that a black one-piece bodysuit, and a flat mask with a yellow-colored design on it's front.

The group consisting of former Kiri shinobi and the Konoha shinobi entered a circle formation around Mei to look out for potential attackers while Zetsu was working. After another minute of senselessly standing around, Naruto and Kimiko received Zetsu's message that he finished his task. Using the mental link they had with each other, due to Zetsu, they agreed on just letting Zetsu restrain the enemies. Before any of the loyalists could act, Naruto's and Kimiko's hand shot up in a half Ram seal and released quite a bit of chakra. The released chakra triggered a chain reaction, causing all the Zetsu spores to grow quickly by feeding on the released chakra. Only a few were able to quickly enough realize what was happening and to escape via body flicker or replacement.

Those who were unable to escape tumbled down from the tree branches they were standing on like rocks. Those that escaped now stood in front of the group, glaring daggers at those with Kekkei Genkai, namely those they knew had Kekkei Genkai, Ao, Mei, Kakashi, Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi. They didn't know Ikuho also had a Kekkei Genkai as she wasn't featured in any bingo book, unlike Naruto who was in the bingo books of Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and the loyalist Kirigakure.

Naruto stared intently at the Hunter-nin's but was distracted when he heard Kakashi's orders as his senior, "Naruto, Kimiko, Itachi. You three defend the prisoners and Mei-sama, with the help of Ao-san, and Chōjūrō-kun. We will fight the remainders of the Hunter-nin.", ordered Kakashi. Ao was about to say that he wouldn't be ordered around by some Konoha-nin but a single look from Mei shut him up immediately.

"Let's go, Asuma, Gai!", ordered Kakashi as he pulled up the forehead protector covering his left eye, revealing the Sharingan he received from his best friend before he died. Gai entered his Gōken stance while Asuma took out his trench knives and channeled his wind-natured chakra through them, sharpening them to insane levels. The Hunter-nin's also readied themselves by drawing their tantō's. They got ready for their skirmish as Mei and Team Naruto, as well as Oyone, stayed behind with the prisoners to stay out of the way. It was three to six, as such every Konoha-nin had to face two Kiri-nin's.

Kakashi began the fight by forming hand seals, Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger, and shouting, " **Katon: H** **ōsenka no Jutsu** " (" **Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique** "). He breathed in and when he released his breath a multitude of small fireballs headed towards the Kiri-nin's. They retaliated by one of them performing a jutsu himself, Tiger → Snake → Rat → Snake → Tiger, and calmly saying, " **Suiton: Suijinheki** " (" **Water Release: Water Formation Wall** "). The formed wall of water easily blocked the small katon jutsu but they noticed too late that it was only a distraction. From the right, Gai descended upon his enemies with a cry of " **Dainamikku Entorī** " (" **Dynamic Entry** "). Gai dropkicked a Hunter-nin directly in the ribs, shattering his ribcage due to the force behind Gai's strikes. The other also was no problem to defeat as Gai dodged every attack of the Hunter-nin with practiced skill until he performed a rising kick, which hit said Hunter-nin directly int the jaw, sending small bits of bones into the hunter-nin's brain.

Normally, Gai would've been hesitant to kill any person but the Hokage firmly explained to Gai, that that was war and as such no mercy could be shown until the enemy had surrendered and was tied up.

Meanwhile, Asuma engaged his own pair of Hunter-nin. The Hunter-nin's quickly learned not to engage Asuma in close-quarter-combat, as Asuma's chakra enhanced trench knives easily cut through the tantōs. Thus they kept their distance, hoping that Asuma wasn't as good in long-range as he was in close-range. Noticing that the Hunter-nin's hadn't enough natural water sources to effectively use suiton jutsu, let Asuma breathe a bit easier.

While his partner was gathering chakra to use a large suiton jutsu, he had the task to keep Asuma on his feet. He sheathed his tantō quickly, formed hand seals, Rat → Dog → Ox, and wordlessly used his jutsu, " **Suiton: Suiben** " (" **Water Release: Water Whip** "). A whip made of water quickly formed in the Hunter-nin's hand. He swung it and caught Asuma's right hand. He channeled lightning-natured chakra through his hand into the water whip to shock Asuma.

Asuma winced as the electricity reached his arm but quickly disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving behind only a slightly charred log. Asuma replaced himself with a log, hiding in the treeline. While the Hunter-nin searched for him, Asuma targetted the greater threat at the moment, the Hunter-nin currently going through his thirtiest hand seal. Asuma interrupted him by throwing his trench knives, still enhanced by his wind-natured chakra. Now having his hands free, he performed his jutsu, Snake → Rat → Snake → Tiger, and shouting while breathing in, " **Katon: Haisekishō** " (" **Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning** "). Breathing out, Asuma released chakra-infused gunpowder upon his enemy, completely engulfing him. The Hunter-nin currently looking for Asuma widened his eyes when he saw his partner being engulfed in the gunpowder cloud. He wanted to quickly get his comrade out of there but at this moment Asuma already created a spark with a flint placed in his mouth, igniting the gunpowder cloud and completely burning the Hunter-nin, who stopped his jutsu in favor of escaping but was unable to due to something he couldn't see in the cloud chaining him to the ground.

Seeing his partner now burnt to a crisp, sent the remaining Hunter-nin facing Asuma in a fit of rage, completely disregarding his Hunter-nin training to suppress emotions during missions. He ran at Asuma, intent on killing him, but Asuma dodged quickly. Jumping down to where he just charred somebody to death, he quickly grabbed his trench knives, who were magically uninfluenced by the huge fiery explosion just seconds ago. As such he could easily handle the cold metal. He readied himself for the approaching Hunter-nin and easily cut through him, immediately killing the enraged Hunter-nin.

"' **Sharingan no Kakashi** ' (' **Kakashi of the Sharingan** ')... you're quite high up in the Kirigakure bingo book for the crime of possessing a Kekkei Genkai and your battle-prowess.", stated the leader of the Hunter-nin's. Kakashi simply narrowed his eyes, his hand slowly moving towards his kunai pouch.

The other Hunter-nin, however, hadn't managed to stay calm in this situation and was clearly terrified at the idea of fighting against someone of Kakashi's caliber. Thus he panicked and soon found a few shurikens adorning his vital points. He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. The leader growled at his subordinates performance but soon returned his gaze to Kakashi. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. While Hunter-nin was most likely just trying to intimidate Kakashi, Kakashi was waiting for Gai and Asuma to regroup with the rest of the group.

Then they suddenly sped towards each other. The Hunter-nin was using practiced skill to dodge Kakashi's kunai swipes, while Kakashi was utilizing his Sharingan to predict the arcs of the Hunter-nin's slices. Soon enough though the Hunter-nin was able to find a gap in Kakashi's defense and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying backward, slowly skidding to a stop in front of his allies. Kakashi quickly jumped to his feet, missing the tragic fall of his favorite book from his pouch. The Icha Icha book flew towards Ikuho, without anyone noticing as they were too focussed on the battle to notice something as unimportant as a flying book. It landed right before Ikuho who was standing back a little as she was a medic-nin and was strategically important to protect at all costs. So no one noticed Ikuho looking directly at the book as if she was entranced by it, ' _No one will notice it missing, right? Well, except for Kakashi-san but he won't have to know, hehe..._ ', with that thought Ikuho quickly swiped the book up and stored it inside her medical pouch. Looking around and seeing nobody notice her action, Ikuho put her hand in front of her mouth, silencing her slightly perverse giggle, ' _Until I may get together Naruto-kun... this book shall do great, hehe..._ '

Back to Kakashi, he was noticing the Hunter-nin's advantage in this battle. This ungodly thick mist was annoying and it only intensified once Asuma evaporated all the water the one Hunter-nin produced with his chakra. All Kirigakure shinobi are taught to fight in the mist and without sight, as well as to utilize guerilla-style tactics to take the opponent off-guard. And at the time it seemed to be effective. The Hunter-nin already managed a few small injuries, while Kakashi was still trying to find where he was. He couldn't even track the Hunter-nin by the smell of his own blood, as the Hunter-nin discarded every weapon tainted with Kakashi's blood. He was also starting to feel the side-effect of his transplanted Sharingan. He was slowly reaching his limit and would soon fall unconscious if he didn't rest immediately. Pulsing his chakra so that Kimiko would pick it up, he hoped they would understand his hidden message.

Kimiko perked up as she felt Kakashi's chakra spike a little. She concentrated on it and noticed his chakra running low. Acting immediately she turned towards Itachi, "Itachi, Kakashi's reaching his limit. You gotta be ready to replace him anytime." Itachi simply nodded back at her and waited for his opportunity to intervene and defeat the enemy. They heard another few clangs of metal before Kakashi jumped back to his team. Itachi took this as his signal to engage the enemy. Sharingan activated, he rushed his opponent with his drawn tantō. He managed to injure him with his blade before the Hunter-nin retreated into the fog, wincing slightly at the pain he felt from his chest. The wound wasn't deep or anything dangerous, just deep enough to draw his blood. His wound would have to wait for now as he still had to defeat his enemy as ordered by his Mizukage.

Itachi flicked his blade a little, ridding it of the Hunter-nin's blood and retreated to his friends. As he reappeared next to them, he could see Naruto's nose slightly twitching and a smirk growing on his face. Naruto could smell it... blood. Using his slightly larger canines, he pulled off his left glove and bit his thumb, drawing a trickle of blood. He formed hand seals, Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram, and muttered the name of his jutsu, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** " (" **Summoning Technique** "). In a poof of smoke a wolf, double the size of an average wolf, appeared next to Naruto, "You already smell it, don't you, Ōkashi?", asked Naruto with a small smile. The wolf in turn just grinned showing all his sharp teeth. The wolf's nose twitched ever so slightly, widening the wolf's grin even more, "You're so nice, Naruto-sama. You've got prey for me to pursue... I'll make sure to hound him thoroughly!", stated Ōkashi in his still high-pitched voice. A second later, Ōkashi howled, alerting the Hunter-nin the presence of a summon, meaning he should better retreat, as the summons nose would be able to find him via smell even in the mist.

When Ōkashi smelled his prey distancing himself from them, he growled but kept his grin. It was always more fun when they were running like helpless cattle. Before he could start his hunt, Naruto stopped him, "Do not delay too much. We can't have him sending Kirigakure a warning that Konohagakure now intervenes in its civil war. Bring him back dead!" Ōkashi nodded slightly at this, "Don't worry Naruto-sama. It won't take too long." And with that said Ōkashi disappeared into the mist using chakra to jump through the trees like shinobi would.

The Hunter-nin was currently fleeing. He was ashamed of himself. He was just assigned a team by the Mizukage, as a sign of trust, and he completely failed his leader. He was so arrogant and now he was reaping what he sowed. But at least he would be able to bring vital information with him, perhaps important enough, not to have him executed for cowardice. He was soon brought out of his thoughts by the sound of someone pursuing him. He turned around mid-jump and threw a volley of shuriken at his supposed enemy. He was shocked when instead of the summoner, he saw the summon pursuing him. The wolf looked quite intimidating with the small amount of saliva leaving the mouth mid-flight and those long sharp teeth. He subconsciously gulped when he imagined what would happen if those teeth buried themselves in any part of his body. He shivered slightly and decided to increase his speed, hoping to throw off the summon.

Ōkashi's grin now threatened to split his face apart, "I love it when my prey thinks it has a chance to escape.", the wolf chuckled a little before increasing his own speed now starting to gain on the Hunter-nin. The Hunter-nin's eyes widened when he saw the wolf closing in on him, ' _No way! This is my highest speed! How can a mere summon gain on me... Gotta speed up... even more!_ ' Ending his thought at that moment, he decided to increase his speed even further, risking his muscles being torn apart by the sheer speed or the pressure of his own chakra on his muscles. He didn't look back for another minute, but when he did he didn't see Ōkashi anywhere. He stopped, thinking he lost the mutt. He was panting heavily, indicating how exhausting the last minute alone was. He could also feel the injuries he had in his legs, ' _Nothing a trip to the hospital can't fix, I hope._ ' He relaxed, breathing in deeply. He was about to restart his trek to Kirigakure when he heard the rustling of leaves to his right. He turned around just in time to see a big jaw clamping down on his throat. He struggled to get the mutt of off his neck, but Ōkashi retaliated by increasing the pressure. The Hunter-nin could feel the wolf's teeth breaking his skin and burying themselves in his flesh. Breathing became harder and harder and he made a last minute attempt to get the mutt of off him. He tried drawing his tantō, but that last attempt was squashed Ōkashi finally bit down strong enough to break the Hunter-nin's neck. His body immediately became limp in Ōkashi's jaw and he proceeded to return to his summoner with his dead prey.

A minute later he returned to his summoner and saw them rounding up the prisoners of Zetsu's spores, as well as a half-dead looking Kakashi, due to him burning through his whole chakra. Fortunately, for him though, Zetsu was able to replenish his chakra using the chakra of the prisoners, so he was only physically tired now. Naruto, having heard and smelled his summons arrival, turned towards Ōkashi. Ōkashi unceremoniously dropped the corpse of the Hunter-nin on the ground, sitting on his arse like a dog, waiting expectantly. Naruto put his hand on his forehead, shaking his head while smiling and chuckling. He reached to his back pouch and retrieved a delicious looking piece of meat jerky. He threw it at Ōkashi, who caught it in the air and happily munched on his treat.

Having finished his treat Ōkashi looked at Naruto, "Well then I'll be going home, Naruto-sama." Naruto nodded, "Good job and thank you, Ōkashi." And with that said the wolf disappeared in a poof of smoke. Naruto returned his gaze towards the prisoners, where Itachi and Ikuho were already trying to extract useful information from them with the ' **Genjutsu: Sharingan** ' (' **same in English** '). Even though they have been completely sucked dry off their chakra by Zetsu, and as such couldn't break the illusions, still they refused to reveal any useful information other than, "Mizukage-sama will kill me if I reveal anything, and I doubt you could out-do Mizukage-sama in torturing people, you Bloodline Rebel scum!"

One could see Itachi being patient going from prisoner to prisoner, keeping his calm not to do something rash. But those who really knew him could spot the tell-tale signs of an irritated and annoyed Itachi. Ikuho was fuming and Kimiko pulled her away from the prisoners before she could get the chance to incinerate them with a katon jutsu. Putting the last one under genjutsu and failing to extract any information, Itachi sighed, "I can't get anything out of them... maybe you have more luck than I do."

Naruto nodded and looked at the prisoners, searching for one who looked more panicked than the others. This person would most likely have confidential information for him to be panicking like this. As he found the person he was looking for, Naruto smirked behind his high-collar. Said prisoner started to sweat harder when he saw Naruto's expression. It looked like someone that enjoyed the misery of others. He tried distancing himself from this man but was kept in place as wooden tendrils shot out off the ground and bound him to the ground. Naruto soon knelt before the man, pulling his head up carefully. Now Naruto spotted that the man was clenching his eyes shut as hard as he could. Naruto sighed and pulled out a senbon needle without a sound. He hid it in his sleeve for now though. He lightly slapped the man on his cheek, trying to get him to open his eyes. He attempted further now saying in a soothing voice, "Don't worry, I won't put you under a genjutsu. My Sharingan isn't even activated. Ask your friends here, they can see that I have no activated Sharingan!"

The frightened man now questioned his comrades if that was a true statement. His comrades all said "Yes." with a bit of hesitation. Feeling relieved, he slowly opened his eyes, hoping to catch Naruto's eye color before fully opening his eyes. He could only spot the cerulean color of Naruto's iris, so he fully opened his eyes, confident that Naruto wouldn't use genjutsu. Naruto smiled a little and then raised his left fist, which was still missing its glove. He slowly opened it, revealing his half-moon looking marking on his palm, "You know what this marking represents?", asked Naruto innocently. The Hunter-nin shook his head slowly. Naruto nodded, "Well, it is a physical manifestation of the potency of my Yin chakra. I have the strongest Yin chakra recorded since the times of ' **Rikud** **ō** **Sennin** ' (' **Sage of Six Paths** '). The only one since that time to come close to that level of potency was the legendary Uchiha patriarch, Uchiha Madara. Now, do you know what this means in terms of genjutsu usage?"

The man shook his head, ready to close his eyes on a heartbeat. Naruto smiled a bit more, "It means that when I use genjutsu, it turns into a fun game of dominance. If your Yin chakra is able to match mine. Of course, that's not possible so your Yin chakra tries to resist as much as possible. Only a few have ever managed to win this battle of dominance in the last years. My sister for example. But that's more due to her absurdly high amount of Yang chakra. Now then why don't we play this little game?", said Naruto and as soon as he said that his Sharingan activated. The Hunter-nin was just quick enough to close his eyes again but wasn't expecting Naruto to pull out his senbon needle and prick it right into his leg. The sudden pain caused him to abruptly open his eyes, staring right into Naruto's Sharingan eyes. Naruto could only say, "Whoops.", before his Sharingan hypnotizingly rotated, while he whispered the name of his genjutsu, " **Iatsu Sharingan** " (" **Coercion Sharingan** ").

The Hunter-nin's eyes widened to the size of saucers before he slumped over for a few seconds, his eyes having a certain glaze in them, showing that he wasn't in control of his body at the moment. Naruto smirked slightly before starting his questioning, "Who informed you that Mei-sama and her entourage would pass here?" The rest of the Hunter-nin squad was now in turmoil. They tried to stop their comrade from revealing any information. Their efforts were for naught, however, as the genjutsu'd Hunter-nin's mouth opened, "We don't know. We received the information from an anonymous source, although he specified the price he wanted for the information." This caused Naruto to click his tongue. They didn't have a name. But the least they could do was find out this person's intentions, "What was the price for the information?"

Without hesitation, the man answered again, "He demanded that at least one of each Kekkei Genkai will have one survivor for his own use, most likely for experiments as he also introduced himself as a scientist. We already have a specimen wielding the Kaguya Clan's ' **Shikotsumyaku** ' (' **Dead Bone Pulse** '). He is merely a teenage boy by the name of Kaguya Kimikusa. He's the only known survivor of the Kaguya Clan purge, after their failed coup d'etat. We also had the last member of the Yuki Clan but he somehow disappeared from our radars." The man actually did not have any more information to reveal as he was just recently promoted to this informative position. Naruto sighed as he dropped the genjutsu to thank the Hunter-nin. The Hunter-nin's eyes just widened as he realized that he just leaked confidential information. He turned his gaze towards the ground in shame. Naruto meanwhile stood up to share the gained information with Mei and the Konoha teams. After he finished his telling, they were all deep in thought. Mei was the first to speak up, "Do any of you know anyone that would have an interest in Kekkei Genkai?"

Itachi answered first, "I know several. First would be the former Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. He always had an unhealthy desire for Kekkei Genkai to add to his body. He's also known to have quite the effective spy network so he could know that we would go through here. The next would be another former Konoha-nin out of the same generation as the Sannin by the name of Hiruko. It is said that Sandaime Hokage-sama ordered his students, the Sannin to assassinate him when he found out that he had the same intentions that Orochimaru had later on in the timeline, forcing him to leave the village as a nuke-nin. It is rumored that he invented a kinjutsu to obtain the Kekkei Genkai of other people by assimilating the victim's body with his own, granting him access to the victims Kekkei Genkai. Just like Orochimaru, he is also a brilliant scientist. He vanished a long time ago but it is rumored that he is hiding somewhere between ' **Tsuchi no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Earth** ') and ' **Kusa no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Grass** '). And last it may very well possible that Iwagakure or Kumogakure have managed to sneak spies into Konoha with the purpose of sabotaging and seeing as we pursue an alliance with Kirigakure, they may have informed their superiors and they sent a message to the Mizukage with our traveling plans. They would also benefit from gaining new Kekkei Genkai as both countries have rather few native Kekkei Genkai.", as Itachi finished they all nodded in agreement.

"Well, it doesn't matter if we rack our brains now. We know someone informed them and that is information enough. We have to be patient for now. New hints may reveal themselves over time. They are bound to make a mistake sometime in the future. For now, let's first deal with the prisoners. Zetsu.", said Naruto turning to his right. Everyone looked as Zetsu emerged from the ground, " **You have called, Naruto-sama?** ", asked Black Zetsu. Naruto nodded and pointed towards the prisoners, "Yes, search out the medic of the squad. When you've found him, have one of your clones take his or her form and come back here." Zetsu nodded as a White Zetsu clone emerged next to them and walked over to the prisoners. He looked at all of them, searching for the insignia marking the person as a medic. Finding him, he simply touched the medic-nin's shoulder and slowly Zetsu's appearance changed to that of the medic-nin. Having finished his task, he returned to his masters. This time Kimiko gave him orders, "Go to Kirigakure and infiltrate their Medical Corps. Sabotage them for now but do not harm any pressured workers, only those that willingly help the Mizukage. If you find civilian medics, who are forced to treat the Mizukage's forces there, evacuate them with the help of another White Zetsu clone. Also, provide us with information form Kirigakure!", ordered Kimiko. Having received his orders, Zetsu disappeared into the treeline but not without saying his understanding, "As you wish Kimiko-sama!"

Those with war experience had understanding faces but since Ikuho wasn't part of a war yet, except for being born before the ' **Daisanji Ninkai Taisen** ' (' **Third Great Shinobi War** '), so she voiced her question, "Why order him to the Medic Corps? Isn't it better to focus on the enemy shinobi forces?"

Naruto shook his head in disagreement, "What is the purpose of targetting the enemy force if they will just patch them up again? To win a war, one must take out the enemies supply line and reinforcements, which means taking out the Medical Corps to hinder the enemies reinforcements.", explained Naruto to Ikuho with a somber expression. He really wasn't looking forward to experiencing war first-hand after he and Kimiko experienced the horrors of war, from the stories of returning shinobi from the ' **Daisanji Ninkai Taisen** ' (' **Third Great Shinobi War** '). He sighed and when he saw Ikuho all tensed up and a fearful expression on her face as if fearing that the enemies will focus on taking her out as well. She wasn't aware of anything happening around her until she felt a warm touch on her left shoulder, "Don't worry, Ikuho-chan! We will all protect you.", said Naruto as he gently squeezed her shoulder, making her blush a bit, while Itachi and Kimiko also laid their hands on Ikuho's shoulder, to calm her down. Seeing all their kind smiles, even from Mei, Ao, etc. allowed her to feel safe and calm down, "Thank you guys, Itachi-san, Kimiko-chan, Naruto-kun." Naruto and Kimiko gave wide grins, whereas Itachi just gave a smile the size of an ant.

Just then they heard groaning and turned around to see Kakashi leaning against a tree. He was groaning in pain from the side-effects of the transplanted Sharingan. Oyone was already working on lessening the pain he was feeling, while Kakashi just muttered, "Gotta grow my chakra reserves to use this eye longer..."

Team Naruto just chuckled lightly with Mei joining them until Naruto looked up in the sky, "Mei-sama, it's getting rather dark. I think we should rest for the rest of the day and allow Kakashi-nii to regain control of his body. We can resume on our path tomorrow morning.", suggested Naruto. Mei nodded, "That's a good idea. Ao, search for some firewood. Chōjūrō, find water and gather some food.", ordered Mei her shinobi. They both nodded and went to do their task.

Soon after eating a bit and talking they all rested and continued on their way the next day. The rest of the journey was uneventful as they mostly passed ocean via water walking, except for Kakashi who was being piggy-back riding Gai as he couldn't move. When they all first saw those two grown men piggy-back riding, they were horrified, no grown man should do something like this. It was just wrong. It also must've been quite embarrassing, judging by the expression on Kakashi's face. After another day of travel, they finally reached the hideout of the Rebel forces, "Mei-sama! We've been awaiting your return. And I see you've brought help from Konoha, although not as much as hoped!", announced one of the guards, guarding the entrance to the Rebel camp. It was situated in the middle of a large clearing but still hidden due to the density and size of the surrounding trees.

"Getsu, call commanders to gather in my tent!", ordered Mei, causing the guard, now identified as Getsu, to salute and set off to fulfill his task. Mei led the Konoha-nin with her through the camp, heading towards her tent. Once arriving there they didn't need to wait long before the commanders of the Rebel forces arrived. Unsurprisingly, most of them were Kekkei Genkai wielders although that wasn't the standard. When everyone gathered around a table, on which laid a map of ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** ') with tactical drawings on it, she introduced the Konoha-nin, "First things first. Those eight shinobi are the help we received from Konohagakure.", before she could introduce them on a more personal level, however, a commander interrupted her, "What this is blasphemy! We asked for help not merely eight shinobi, two of which look like medic-nin! Of course, it is good that we even got help but this is not enough.", complained one commander.

Ao looked the man directly in the eye, "Be happy that we even got help in the first place! And even if they don't seem like much, I can assure you that those six shinobi are more capable than all of you! Konoha never famed itself on the quantity of its shinobi force but rather on its quality! The most S-Rank shinobi from all over the Elemental Nations originate in Konoha. Also, you will respect the decision of your betters!", reprimanded Ao. The commander had the manners to at least look ashamed and apologized to Mei and the Konoha-nin. They all accepted the apology and Mei could continue, "As I was saying. These are the shinobi we received as help from Konoha. From left to right, they are Oyone, Hatake Kakashi, also known as ' **Sharingan no Kakashi** ' (' **Kakashi of the Sharingan** '), Maito Gai, resident taijutsu master of Konoha, Sarutobi Asuma, the son of the Sandaime Hokage, Uchiha Ikuho, Uchiha Itachi, also known as ' **Sharingan no Itachi** ' (' **Itachi of the Sharingan** '), Namikaze Kimiko, registered in the bingo books as ' **Mokuton no Kimiko** ' (' **Kimiko of the Wood Release** '), and lastly Namikaze Naruto, commonly known as ' **Sharingan no Naruto** ' (' **Naruto of the Sharingan** ') with his special ability the ' **Dorei no me** ' (' **Enslaving Eye** '), rumored to have the strongest visual prowess since legends like Uchiha Madara! Now still thinking that we got too few shinobi?", asked Mei sarcastically with a smirk on her face. The commander shook their heads, especially the one that complained before.

"Mei-sama, if you may allow me to speak.", requested Kakashi. Mei nodded her agreement and Kakashi, who was still on Gai's back, addressed the commander, "First, don't worry about me being carried, I'll be able to walk again tomorrow. My Sharingan has nasty side-effects.", said Kakashi with an eye smile, causing everyone in the room to sweatdrop, "Well, other than that, Hokage-sama instructed us to help you to the best of our abilities as we pursue an alliance with Kirigakure should your side be victorious. As such we are at your disposal for any kind of mission. Ikuho-san and Oyone-san are prestigious medic-nin in our village and the best our village has to offer besides Senju Tsunade who doesn't reside in Konoha at the moment. Then we have me, Gai, and Asuma. We're an assault team as our team consists mostly of close-range and mid-range fighters. Naruto-kun's team is an all-rounder kind of team. As I said before, Ikuho-san is an aspiring medic-nin, Itachi-kun is a genjutsu expert but you shouldn't underestimate his ninjutsu skills. He is a mid-range to long-range fighter as he is rather inferior in taijutsu compared to his other skills, but he can hold his own for a while there.", informed Kakashi his superiors for the next two years, missing the mini-pout Itachi had on his face, causing Naruto and Kimiko to silently snicker.

Letting the information sink in for a second, Kakashi continued with the last two members of Team Naruto, "Then we have Kimiko-chan. She is excellent in all fighting distances, ranging from close-range to mid-range, and even long-range fighting. Her best areas are her taijutsu, kenjutsu, and ninjutsu. As the title she has gained in the bingo book implies, she is the wielder of the legendary Mokuton Kekkei Genkai, for reasons only the Namikaze Clan knows. Due to her abnormally large chakra reserves, no doubt due to her Uzumaki heritage being dominant in her, she is not able to use genjutsu of any kind, only being able to repel and break them. And last but not least, Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun, unlike his sister, is a master of genjutsu, even with his huge chakra reserves. His ninjutsu skills are on par with Kimiko but is inferior to her in both kenjutsu and taijutsu. Even still, his taijutsu and kenjutsu skills are better than most reach after an entire lifetime. They are prodigies of a century. From time to time Naruto was also deployed by Konoha's Intelligence and Torture Department due to his genjutsu skills making him an excellent interrogator. Also, as already implied by Mei-sama, Naruto-kun's visual prowess is also way higher than normal. This brings us to the main reason both Naruto and Kimiko were chosen to accompany and aid you in your civil war. Both have the necessary tools to control... a bijū!"

This surprised everyone at the table, other than Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi, more than it should have, "This shouldn't be much of a surprise really. Senju Hashirama was known to have controlled eight bijū at the same time with his mastery of the Mokuton. Another example for the taming of a bijū was Uchiha Madara who was said to have fought Shodai Hokage-sama with the Kyūbi using his mastery of the Sharingan to take control of the bijū via genjutsu. If you're just surprised by underestimating them due to their age, then you made a fatal error. Don't let their age fool you, there's a reason both are elite jōnin at their age already." Now that he had finished his explanations and such and due to them not traveling anymore, Kakashi put his hand on his back pouch, wanting to retrieve his Icha Icha Paradise book to read, but instead grabbed nothing?

Kakashi patted all his pouches frantically. When he didn't find his favorite book, he cried anime tears, now thinking he lost his precious somewhere on the way here. Naruto chuckled while Kimiko was about to scold Kakashi for even wanting to read that smut. Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto noticed Ikuho now being slightly tenser than normal. He rose his right eyebrow a little but let it fall when he saw a rectangular looking form under her chūnin vest. His chuckle returned for a few seconds before he stopped. The rest of the time in the leader's tent was spent discussing new tactics and the fact that the enemy has gained a new informant for the exchange of Kekkei Genkai. Soon they were dismissed and brought to their individual tents by Ao.

Having put everything in place in his tent, Naruto sat at his desk, writing a message to Aiko, saying they were all fine and that he already misses her, Kushina, and Minato. After finishing his message he summoned a small wolf and gave him the scroll and gave him instructions to reverse summon himself to the Namikaze compound in Konoha. The small wolf yipped in approval and disappeared in a small poof of smoke. Naruto smiled and sighed contently. He soon got a smirk and rose from his seat, making his way to Ikuho's tent. Sneaking a peek inside, he saw her sitting cross-legged on her bed, wearing comfy clothes, rather than her heavy chūnin attire. She wore a loose-fitting pale green shirt, as well as loose-fitting black pants. She was bare-foot and for some reason wore reading glasses, ' _I didn't think someone with the Sharingan would require glasses unless they overuse the Mangekyō. But there's no way Ikuho has that. Still, it looks cute._ ', thought Naruto to himself as he settled on leaning on one of the wooden stakes, holding up the tent, using all his stealth skills to remain undetected. Meanwhile, Ikuho held up an orange book and was blushing as she imagined herself and Naruto in the 'positions' described in the book. She was also giggling perversely as she turned to the next page. Waiting for the perfect moment to reveal his presence, he announced himself, "I didn't know you were into this kind of book.", said Naruto smirking. Ikuho not having noticed his presence before was startled. So much, in fact, she accidentally threw the book straight through the ceiling of the tent. Out of some coincidence, it went right through the ceiling of Kakashi's tent, who in response shouted, "MY PRECIOUS RETURNED TO ITS MASTER!"

Ikuho glared playfully at Naruto, "How did you know I had the book?" Naruto smiled and sat down on the chair in the tent, "I've seen you trying to hide it in Mei-sama's tent."

Ikuho blushed in embarrassment of being caught. She stammered out excuses that made Naruto chuckle at the unbelievability of her excuses, "Don't worry, Ikuho-chan. I won't rat you out to Kakashi-nii. But... do you want to... you know...", said Naruto rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, as he didn't know how to say something like this. Ikuho cutely tilted her head in confusion, but she had a feeling she would like what Naruto wanted to tell her, "You know... do you want to... go on a... date with me sometime in the future?", said Naruto with a nervous grin. Ikuho's face lit up and her blush intensified exponentially, ' _N-N-Naruto-kun j-just asked m-me out on a-a date..._ ', thought Ikuho as she squealed in her mind in excitement. "You know because I really like you, even back in the academy, and you look really good.", said Naruto as he tried to make the situation less awkward... by making it even more awkward for him. He was about to say more but was interrupted as Ikuho placed her index finger on his lips, shutting him up instantly, "I would love to go on a date with you, Naruto-kun."

Relief flooded Naruto's mind. He thought his question really embarrassing, and that Ikuho would say no but apparently, she didn't care. He flashed her one of his mega-watt grins, "Alright! How about, say in two days time? I saw a really beautiful looking hill just north of here. We could have a nice picnic there at sunset?", suggested Naruto as Ikuho smiled and nodded enthusiastically, "That would be beautiful Naruto-kun!"

Naruto then stood up, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Ikuho-chan. See ya!" With that said Naruto left the tent as he waved towards Ikuho on his way out and winked. Ikuho sat there for a few seconds completely motionless before she threw herself into her pillow to muffle her loud squeals of excitement. It stopped after a few minutes and she soon started to dreamfully look into space, imagining herself with Naruto in two days on a romantic date up on the hill, looking into the sunset. She sighed contently and prepared herself for bed as it was getting late. She got into bed and smiled a big smile, her dreams were slowly coming true.

* * *

 **With Naruto**

Naruto laid down on his back looking up into the ceiling of the tent, sighing happily. He was happy that he wasn't rejected by Ikuho. But if he was to be in a romantic relationship with Ikuho, he wanted insurance that she wouldn't be sad by things like eventual death. He sat up, "Zetsu!" The bipolar human-plant hybrid called Zetsu emerged from the ground, "You have called, **Naruto-sama?** ", asked Zetsu.

Naruto nodded, "Yes, I want you to copy scrolls of the Uchiha Clan about a certain kinjutsu, I think you know which I mean."; at that Zetsu nodded, signaling Naruto to continue, "After that I want you to gather scrolls left behind Uchiha Madara pertaining his personal jutsus. And soon I will need a new pair of eyes... my vision is already blurry from overuse of the Mangekyō. You wouldn't happen to have two Mangekyō Sharingan from a person that is blood-related to me, right?", asked Naruto sarcastically. But when White Zetsu didn't answer with a sarcastic remark as well, he looked up at the bipolar being, "You have?"

Zetsu nodded, " **It's more of a theory but... it may not be blood-related but it's a chakra relation. Your chakra is identical to that of Madara due to you both being the vessel of Indra-sama's chakra. It may be possible to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan with Madara's original eyes, as his brother's eyes are with fake Madara.** ", explained Black Zetsu. Naruto looked thoughtful. It may work and what did he have to lose when his body didn't bind with Madara's eyes, other than eventual blindness. But he would be blind in a year or so after all so it was no problem, "Alright, Zetsu fetch Madara's eyes and hold onto them until I need them. Search through Madara's stuff and bring everything that may have a use." Zetsu nodded at his master's orders and telepathically ordered some White Zetsu clones to take care of that.

Naruto yawned as he felt his tiredness take control of his body as he stood up and prepared himself for bed. Now laying in his bed, a content smile graced his lips, even with the prospect of war starting tomorrow. But the happiness he was feeling was overshadowing his nervousness. He fell asleep soon after...

* * *

 **Author note: Finally, got around to finish this chapter. I had lots of stuff to do, like playing Skyrim, Battlefield V, ... Hearts of Iron IV. Important stuff really and I totally didn't just forget finishing this chapter. :D**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and continue to write reviews as I really want to hear your opinion on what I could improve and ideas that I could implement into this fanfiction. I really love the support you guys show me for this fanfiction. I never imagined someone would actually like and read this, as I've practiced writing fanfics several times in the past and I always thought they sound quite bad ;D. Well, other than that, I don't really have anything to write here now, so... yeah See ya in the next chapter!**


	13. Kirigakure Civil War: Part II

**Chapter 13**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon or Black Zetsu Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon or Black Zetsu Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OC characters I create. "The Byakugan is stronger than the Sharingan." That's the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard. Excuse me, did you just insinuate that your weird 360°, x-ray vision eyesight is superior to things like movement prediction, instant genjutsu via eyesight, and the ability to copy jutsu? Not to mention the Man** **geky** **ō** **Sharingan. Yeah definitely superior to Susano'o, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, yeah, yeah sure.**

* * *

 **Kirigakure Rebel camp, Next morning**

"Team Naruto your mission is to scout out certain warehouses on the southern part of this island for supplies as our supplies are slowly running out. Team Kakashi will scout out warehouses on the eastern section of the island. We've received information from one of our spies that these loyalist warehouses are practically abandoned, so you shouldn't have any trouble acquiring the much-needed supplies. But be wary one can never be too careful!", briefed Mei. Both teams saluted their temporary leader and left to take care of their respective mission, while Mei was briefing the next two teams to do the same on the western and northern parts of the island, also trying to gain the support of the common civilians.

"Good luck with your assignment, Kakashi-nii.", wished Naruto his elder brother figure. Kakashi eye-smiled and wished good luck right back. Naruto turned to his team, "Gather supplies you'll need for the mission. We depart in exactly one hour. Go!" And so each team member went to their respective tents to prepare for the coming mission. Naruto was currently in his tent, packing his chokutō, a dozen shurikens, a few kunais with attached exploding tags, as well as two dozen senbon. He was sealing it all inside storage seals, painted onto his armguards. Just then did he hear some sound behind him. He turned around to see Zetsu slowly phasing out of the ground, "Naruto-sama! **We have copied the contents of the kinjutsu scroll you requested.** ", informed Zetsu as he held out a generic looking scroll. Naruto nodded at him and retrieved the scroll, sealing it in his armguard as well, "What about the other tasks I gave?"

Zetsu responded quickly without any kind of emotion, as per usual, " **They will take longer to acquire.** Since the fake Madara is still around the hideout. But we're **doing our best to get them without him noticing.** ", stated Zetsu. Naruto nodded again; "Okay, well done Zetsu. You will accompany us on our mission, just in case. Stay submerged unless we call you or message you telepathically!", ordered Naruto his human-plant hybrid spy. Zetsu simply nodded and disappeared into the ground again. Naruto stood straight, adjusting the fit of his attire. Once satisfied he exited his tent, heading towards the gate of the camp. As he arrived there he saw Itachi already waiting. They nodded at each other and continued waiting for the last two members of the team. Luckily they didn't have to wait long as one could see Ikuho and Kimiko, both currently talking, most likely gossiping, approach the gate. Kimiko now adorned a large scroll on her back, no doubt used for sealing large amounts of supplies. They gathered at the gate, Kimiko's and Ikuho' conversation now being on hold until they returned from the mission, and looked at Naruto.

Once he was sure he had everyone's attention, he reminded them of their objective, "Okay, remember we're mostly looking for food and weapons. Anything else is secondary but if it's useful, feel free to take it.", they all nodded in understanding. Naruto rose his left hand, just to lower his hand in a flash, signaling the start of the mission. Just as his motion was finished all four of them jumped into the mist-filled treeline, heading south.

They were traveling in silence, every single one of them honing their senses with chakra, be it the ' **Kanchi no Jutsu** ' (' **Sensory Technique** ') in Kimiko's case, one's sense of smell and hearing in Naruto's case, or one's sense of vision in Ikuho's, Itachi's and Naruto's case. Their journey southwards luckily was without interruption, reinforcing the claim that it was an abandoned area. After an hour of traveling, they reached the general area of the warehouse. Raising his hand, Naruto signaled his team to stop, "Nee-chan, check around us if there are any left-over chakra signatures or even enemy shinobi in hiding.", ordered Naruto with a straight voice.

Kimiko nodded and held up a Ram seal while closing her eyes. She extended her sensory range to cover a mile around them. Sensing nothing wrong, she opened her eyes, "No one is around this location or has been around for at least a few weeks." Naruto nodded and motioned for them to drop right in front of the warehouse, "Before we enter we have to check for traps. Better to be safe than sorry.", said Naruto as they checked if the door was booby-trapped. Finding none such things, Naruto slowly opened the door, allowing Itachi and Kimiko to double-check for traps and peek inside for the much-sought supplies. Sighing in relief that the whole warehouse didn't simply explode due to traps they entered the warehouse.

They sorted out useful and useless supplies. Kunais? Useful. Feathers? Useless. Shuriken? Useful. Ration bars? Useful. Regular ink? Useless. And so on and so forth. Soon they sorted out everything inside the warehouse into a pile of useful supplies and one of useless stuff. Naruto nodded at Kimiko to take off the scroll to prepare the sealing, while Itachi was about finished, registering all the taken supplies. When he finished he nodded towards Kimiko who was waiting just for his signal. Forming the Tiger seal, Kimiko poured chakra into the drawn seal on the scroll and all the supplies disappeared in a poof of smoke. Kimiko put a strand of her red hair out of her face as she stood up and was about to put the scroll back on her back, just as she sensed a force of at least 25 shinobi approaching their location fast.

Kimiko looked at Naruto, "Nii-san we're going to get company. At least 25 enemies! Judging from their chakra signatures they're about chūnin-level, but there is also a single individual with jōnin-level chakra reserves." Naruto nodded and urgently ordered his team, "Everyone suppress your chakra as much as possible! They will most likely have sensor type shinobi. Nee-chan take the scroll, we'll ambush them!" Having received their orders, Kimiko quickly grabbed the scroll and strapped it onto her back. Ikuho and Itachi hid behind a set of crates on the right side of the large warehouse. Naruto and Kimiko, hid on one of the wooden beams in the ceiling, now being able to overlook all of the warehouse. Not a second later, a small force of 10 loyalists stormed through the door. They were holding katanas in their hands, obviously being prepared to kill any intruder they find, "Nobody's here. Only this heap of useless stuff.", stated one of the loyalists.

An older looking loyalist scolded him, "Idiot! The fact that there aren't any supplies here anymore is a sign that they were here! We must look for hints as to where they came from and what they took." They all nodded after shouting, "Yes, Captain.", and began rummaging through the crates, not leaving a single one unchecked. Itachi looked upwards, just barely being able to see Naruto who was using ANBU hand signs to deliver orders to Itachi and Ikuho. Itachi nodded, having understood his orders and silently shared them with Ikuho.

"Damn, it seems we moved too late to intercept them. Let's just hope the other squads get to the other warehouses in time to capture and/or kill the Rebel scum. Let's see if our informant was right regarding the other locations.", said a loyalist nonchalantly. The other loyalists agreed and were about to leave when they heard something fall over behind one of the crates. Instantly, they got into battle stances, with drawn kunai or tantō. One of the loyalists motioned for one of them to investigate and as such, he slowly moved forward towards the crates. A trickle of sweat went down his face as he nervously stood before the crate. Glancing one last time behind him to reassure himself that his comrades are there with him, he gulped loudly, before abruptly looking behind the crate, only to see... nothing. He turned around to tell his comrades that it was nothing when a kunai sped past his throat at such a speed, that it was almost invisible to everyone without a Sharingan or Byakugan. He tried to speak but only gurgles left his mouth as a paper-thin cut appeared on his throat and blood leaked out. He fell over dead a few seconds later as his comrades were horrified but soon after entered a formation to cover each other's blind spots.

Unfortunately, for them, however, they seemed to have forgotten the blindspot all of them had, above them. Above them on their wooden beams sat Naruto and Kimiko with three kunai in their hands respectively. They aimed at the rookies' vital spots, to take them out quickly and as painless as possible. Itachi then showed himself by moving in front of the group, further lessening their awareness of the area above them. "So you're the one who has taken the supplies!", shouted one of the rookies. Itachi showed no reaction, deciding to simply stand there staring at the enemies without any kind of emotion being shown on his stoic face. To aggravate them even further, his eyes slowly spun before turning crimson and stopped spinning, now three tomoes adorning each eye. It got the desired reaction as most of the loyalists except for the captain of the squad. They all were only held back from attacking by the risen hand of their captain, otherwise, they already would've engaged the enemy in a blind rage. After making sure all his subordinates would obey his order, the captain decided to speak up while glancing around him, "I doubt that you alone raided this warehouse, so where are your accomplices?", asked the captain, hardening the grip on his tantō's handle.

The captain seemed to smirk as he slowly turned his gaze upwards. Reacting quickly, Itachi's left Sharingan, transformed into its three-bladed shuriken Mangekyō state, becoming bloodshot before he whispered, " **Tsukuyomi** ". With the captain now completely paralyzed and caught in his almost unbreakable genjutsu, Itachi gripped his left eye in pain, but not before throwing two kunai hitting the foremost rookies' in the larynx. Reacting accordingly, Naruto and Kimiko jumped down from their position, unleashing their kunais, killing the rest of the intruding loyalists. They landed on the ground silently. Kimiko quickly clapped her hands together into the Snake hand seal, and wooden beams protruded from the ground, binding the captain in a wooden stock, simultaneously draining his chakra. Making sure that the target truly had no chance to escape, and sensing that the forces outside didn't notice the chakra spike, Kimiko motioned for Itachi to release his genjutsu. Itachi nodded and the genjutsu was released. The captain took a sharp breath and gasped as he saw his comrades dead before him and he could imagine that the comrades behind him were in the same condition.

"Itachi what did you do to him in your ' **Tsukuyomi** '? Not that he's too physically weak to answer our interrogators later on in the camp.", asked Naruto as he looked at Itachi, who was currently being healed a little by Ikuho, to lessen the pain of his Mangekyō usage, "Nothing extreme. I just bound him to the cross and told him to please be a bit patient.", said Itachi relaxing a bit into the medical chakra's soothing feeling, as well as quickly wiping away the last bits of blood on his face with the back of his hand. Naruto nodded in approval and looked at Kimiko, "How many enemies are outside?"

Kimiko closed her eyes, to enhance her sensory abilities further and count all enemies surrounding and guarding the perimeter, "There are a few more than thought. There are twenty enemies around us.", informed Kimiko as she reopened her eyes. Naruto scratched his chin in thought, "I don't want to waste too much time here. The other squads might be under attack as well and I would like to assist them as soon as possible."

Itachi, help me prepare an area-of-effect type genjutsu to render all enemies around us paralyzed with the ' **Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu** ' (' **Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique** ').", ordered Naruto. Itachi nodded and they both held up a Ram seal, concentrating on molding enough chakra to perform the technique on a large enough scale to capture every single enemy, but leaving Kimiko and Ikuho outside of the jutsu's effect.

It only took a few seconds until Naruto and Itachi informed their other teammates that the enemies were successfully caught in their genjutsu but warned them that it wouldn't last long. As such they stormed outside as fast as possible, Naruto at the front, with Kimiko following closely behind him, Itachi covering long-range combat, and Ikuho staying behind in the warehouse, as the enemy would no doubt focus on attacking her, due to her being a medic-nin. Naruto channeled chakra into his left armguard, summoning his chokutō into his left hand, while Kimiko decided to get her hands dirty, rather than using her katana. Thus she quickly formed the Ram seal, causing small wooden spikes to sprout in between her knuckles.

Naruto quickly sliced through the first two loyalists he saw with ease, while Kimiko simply punched the loyalists in front of her with such power, that his bones broke with ease. On top of that, the small wooden spikes on Kimiko's fist, now sprouted into large branches, violently piercing through a large number of vital organs of her target, instantly killing him. Naruto and Kimiko quickly glanced at each other, telepathically exchanging battle plans, before nodding to each other. Naruto sped to the left, while Kimiko sped to the right, with Itachi watching their backs with his Sharingan, should they miss an enemy or should they try to sneak up on them while they're distracted. Not that it was necessary really. Naruto had no problems seeing in the dense mist with his own Sharingan, while Kimiko didn't even necessarily need her eyes to detect enemies, simply sensing their chakra signatures to determine their positions.

By the time they've each killed another two of the paralyzed loyalists, they finally managed to break free of the Sharingan empowered area-of effect genjutsu. Steeling their nerves, trying not to succumb to their rage, when faced with a Kekkei Genkai wielder, they entered a defensive formation. When Kimiko saw what they were trying to accomplish, she quickly intervened to split them up again. The formation they wanted to enter was a well-known defensive formation, that is hard to counter unless you're a master of the Silent Killing. Thus she quickly went through a set of hand seals, Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog, and with a cry of " **Doton: Dory** **ūheki** " (" **Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall** "), a ten feet high earth wall erupted between them. The loyalists were shocked to see that Kimiko didn't even have to slam her hands on the ground to perform the jutsu, showing off her skill with doton manipulation.

Now that they've been cut off from each other, the two smaller groups entered small defensive positions, the rookies' nervously looking around the mist, hoping to see the enemy. On the left side of the wall, in particular, they listened carefully, until they heard something, the sound of... paws? Their heads snapped to the right just in time to see black-furred, five-feet tall, bloodred-eyed wolf clamp his jaws around a rookies' throat before quickly disappearing with him in a burst of speed. The sickening crunch of the neck sounded throughout the area. They were now shaking in fear, the grip on their kunai weakening as they heard the screams of their comrades behind the wall, as Kimiko punched her wooden stakes through her opponents. In one instance, one of her victims even crashed through the earthen wall, a permanent look of horror etched onto his face as most of his upper body was replaced by large twisted, pointed wooden branches.

Not being able to keep calm anymore, a rookie cried out, " **Fūton: Daitoppa** " (" **Wind Release: Great Breakthrough** "), while forming the necessary hand seals to perform this particular jutsu,  
Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake. A strong gust of wind sped throughout the area, blowing away all the annoying mist. The other loyalist shinobi had to cover their eyes from the strong currents. When the wind finally stopped they lowered their arms to see the bodies of their comrades, some of them killed by clean cuts, through chest, throat, and stomach, others by the telltale signs of Kimiko's taijutsu style, namely with wooden stakes mutilated bodies. They looked around to spot the enemy, not even bothering to look directly in front of them, for at least ten seconds. When they finally did, they saw the Konoha squad, minus Ikuho as she was still hiding, standing just about ten yards away from them. Strengthening their resolve to avenge their fallen comrades, the loyalists readied themselves for battle, some with drawn tantōs, others with two kunais, dual-wielding them.

They were about to engage the Konoha squad when the door to the warehouse practically blew off its hinges. All heads snapped in that direction, and much to the horror of Team Naruto, the beforehand captured squad leader was now free and held Ikuho in front of himself, a kunai firmly held at her throat, "Konoha scum! Surrender now, or I'll kill your little friend here!", threatened the squad leader. The squad leader didn't look very happy, most likely due to being captured by the Konoha shinobi or due to the various singed spots on the left side of his body, from when Ikuho tried to resist her capture, in vain apparently. The remaining loyalist forces smirked as they regrouped with their squad leader. Ikuho looked ready to cry and constantly mouthed 'I'm sorry'. Not wanting to get their teammate killed, they all let go of their weapons simultaneously and rose their hands in a surrendering way. The loyalists smirked arrogantly, thinking they defeated three powerful jōnin of Konoha. What they didn't know was Naruto's and Kimiko's telepathic communication method. ' _Nee-chan, can you secretly create a '_ _ **Moku Bunshin**_ _' ('_ _ **Wood Clone**_ _') to escort Ikuho to safety through the ground?'_ , asked Naruto.

' _Yeah, no problem. I'll send it underground with the '_ _ **Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu**_ _' ('_ _ **Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique**_ _'). But how do you want to get her out of his clutches?_ ', inquired Kimiko.

' _Zetsu, let a clone take on Ikuho's form and substitute yourself with her. I'm going to kill them all in one go! I'm already molding my chakra, and am concentrating it in my left eye!_ ', declared Naruto as he glanced over to Itachi, putting him under small genjutsu to safely inform him of his plan. Itachi returned the slightest of nods that was almost non-existent to anyone but Team Naruto and Itachi's family.

While they were planning, a single loyalist with three chakra suppressing handcuffs approached them with a sick smile, "Now you Kekkei Genkai scum will get what you deserve... death at the hands of loyal Kirigakure shinobi!" He was about to put the handcuffs on Itachi's wrists, but the moment they touched his wrists, Itachi dissolved into a flock of crows. He turned his head towards the other two Konoha shinobi, to see them disappearing into crows as well. The confusion was so great, they didn't even notice the disappearance of the beforehand discarded weapons, as well as the substitution of Ikuho. All loyalists formed the Ram seal and with a cry of " **Kai!** " (" **Release!** "), the crows disappeared, no rather collided with each other, revealing Itachi, Kimiko, and Naruto, although Naruto was now kneeling, his left eye closed in concentration and was holding a weird looking hand seal, unbeknownst to them quickening the process of gathering enough chakra for his left eye's ability.

Seeing that their 'prisoners' weren't going to surrender anymore, the leader grinned wickedly, "Well, if you don't want to get your teammate back, it's not my problem!", said the man as his eyes gained a maniacal gleam in them, as he slit through Ikuho's throat. Blood splattered out of the wound, as Ikuho's eyes widened in horror. He let the body go and she fell, face first, to his side, "Now you lost your teammate! Isn't Konoha all for teamwork? You just discarded one of them, so where's your philosophy now?", taunted the man but his taunts were for naught as Team naruto didn't even flinch when they saw their teammate die. Their lack of reaction caused the squad leader to return his gaze back towards Ikuho's 'corpse'.

When he looked down, his eyes widened. 'Ikuho's' neck was turned 180°, looking at him with a deranged smile on her face and an insane gleam in her eyes. Slowly but surely her already pale skin, turned paler and paler until it was a snow-white, and her long raven hair turned a sickly green and shortened. Her onyx colored eyes turned a weird mix of green and yellow. Her womanly face turned into a face befitting a male. Now before him wasn't lying a beautiful Uchiha kunoichi. Before him laid a white monster. He was happy to see although, it changed its form it was still dead. The leader returned his gaze towards his enemies again, now seeing Ikuho standing, in between Kimiko and Itachi, completely covering Naruto. Kimiko was currently calming Ikuho down a bit, while Itachi was guarding them.

The leader's expression turned into one of rage, "Kill them! But spare the two women, our informant would most likely appreciate the two Kekkei Genkai they're wielding!" The remaining loyalist forces saluted him before storming towards them. Itachi reacted quickly by holding up the Tiger seal, " **Katon: H** **ōsenka no Jutsu** " (" **Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Technique** "). A dozen of small fireballs left Itachi's mouth, speeding towards the loyalists. One of the seven approaching shinobi stopped suddenly to perform a jutsu himself, " **Suiton: Suijinheki** " (" **Water Release: Water Formation Wall** "), he shouted while forming his own set of hand seals, Tiger → Snake Rat → Snake → Tiger. He shielded himself and his comrades from the fireballs, causing steam to cover the area. Together with the natural mist that was returning, the air surrounding them all was very humid. Humid enough, in fact, to be used for suiton jutsu, if one had a strong enough suiton affinity of course, like Kimiko.

After making sure that Ikuho wasn't missing anything, Kimiko looked towards the enemies, just in time to see Itachi's fireballs collide with the water wall. Seeing her chance, Kimiko quickly got to work for her jutsu, Rat → Yang Water → Hare → Tiger. After forming the last of her hand seals, she muttered, " **Suiton: Suiry** **ūdan no Jutsu** " (" **Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique** "). During the formation of the hand seals, the mist and steam 'magically' disappeared allowing the loyalists to see Kimiko form her hand seals as well as hearing her mutter the name of her jutsu. Their eyes widened as they shouted, "Impossible! Performing this jutsu with just four hand seals?! On top of that also drawing water from the air... only the Nidaime Hokage was able to do that.", as they finished their frantic rant, a menacing looking water dragon with yellow shining eyes appeared in the air and sped towards the shocked Kiri shinobi. They jumped away as fast they could when the dragon was about to impact on their current location, but for three of them, their efforts were for naught as the water dragon changed its course last second, and claimed their lives.

The rest of the chūnin-level shinobi returned to their leader, this time positioning themselves behind him. The leader looked at them with disgust, "And you call yourself shinobi of Kirigakure, trusted by Mizukage-sama? You're pathetic. Nothing more, nothing less. Let me show you how to deal with them.", just as he finished his little speech, he finally felt the spike in Naruto's chakra system. He looked at Naruto with a questioning gaze. Said blonde, now finally stood up, his left eye closed but the amount of chakra gathered there worried the experienced Kiri jōnin. Not wanting to allow Naruto to perform whatever jutsu he prepared he shot in Naruto's direction, just to quickly raise his arms in front of him, blocking a bone-crushing punch from Kimiko. The punch sent the jōnin flying back, impacting with the warehouse's wall, easily breaking through. He slowly stumbled out, still feeling dizzy from his head colliding with a crate inside. He shook his head to regain control and glared at Kimiko. Kimiko was about to attack again when her brother's calm voice entered her ears, "I'm ready, Nee-chan."

Kimiko quickly nodded and grabbed Ikuho, and she and Itachi jumped back a bit, not wanting to risk to disrupt Naruto's field of view. When he saw his teammates clear the space, Naruto slowly opened his left eye. Suddenly, his left eye shot open while his right eye closed abruptly, his snowflake-patterned Mangekyō activated and his eye completely bloodshot. The white of his eye now more red than white, as he was straining his left eye more and more, a trickle of blood even leaking down his face, as he shouted his strongest ninjutsu's name, " **Akkorokamui** "!

All around the loyalists, blackish-green tentacles and tendrils sprouted from the ground in a flash. The four loyalists in the back didn't have enough time to react at all, as all their vital points were pierced and their flesh around the pierced parts started to turn a purplish color, as the cells in those areas slowly rotted and died. The jōnin's ankles and wrists were pierced by a dozen of tendrils. The tentacles then buried themselves into the ground, binding the man's limbs to the ground. Naruto slowly approached the man, his forehead protector sliding from his forehead, hanging around his neck. His now free hanging hair was shadowed his face, while he calmly closed in on the downed man. From the man's perspective, it looked like a red-eyed devil was approaching him, as the only thing above Naruto's nose that was visible were the two crimson-colored Mangekyō eyes.

As Naruto stood over the man, he repositioned his forehead protector to be around his forehead. Now that his hair was back in its place, Naruto looked a little less intimidating but still intimidating enough to make a lot of shinobi actually piss their pants. His face absolutely calm, not betraying a single one of his feelings. Not wanting to have the man resist his bindings, Naruto channeled chakra into his right Mangekyō eye, quickly putting the jōnin under his right eye's ability, " **Omoikane** ".

* * *

 **Loyalist mindscape**

Naruto suddenly appeared inside the man's mindscape, although he didn't look startled at all, as if he was used to forcefully enter another person's mind. It was a pretty plain mindscape as were most. Unless one was a jinchūriki or a Yamanaka, the mindscape was always a plain grey-tiled endless floor. Right in front of him stood a projection of the loyalist. He approached the projection and held him up by his throat. The projection was gasping for air but was unable to do anything, "Don't even bother trying to resist. You require the Mangekyō Sharingan to break this particular genjutsu, and you don't have that. So, who informed you that we would be here?", demanded Naruto stoically, the blood flow now stemmed and stopped, leaving only the red-colored stains on both his cheeks.

The man desperately tried to free himself but felt his resistance only causing Naruto to reinforce the grip around his throat. Once he finally recognized that resistance was futile, the man tried to lie to Naruto that he didn't know. But for some reason he himself didn't know, when he tried to lie, his tongue betrayed him and actually revealed the truth, "W-We were i-informed by a man named K-Kurisuke. He i-is p-part of t-the Rebel i-intel department."

Naruto stored the information away for later, "Why did he tell you?" Once again the man tried his hardest to lie but his mouth just sputtered the truth, "H-He's a spy p-placed by Mizukage-sama!", managed the man to choke out. Naruto just muttered, "I see.", before he released his grip on the projections throat. The projection landed on his butt rather harshly. The man glared at Naruto and tried to force him out of his mindscape but could feel his control over his mind and body waning. He was immensely confused and Naruto's flat face was no help either. Naruto then informed him of what he was doing, "You feel your control waning because I'm taking control of your body. I will kill you, but since I'm not cruel enough to simply let your body rot in agonizing pain, due to the after-effects of my ' **Akkorokamui** ', I will simply force your brain to permanently shut down!", declared Naruto as he slowly started to disappear from the mindscape. And as soon as he disappeared completely, the mindscape started to dissipate.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, outside of the genjutsu**

While Naruto was currently extracting information from the man's brain directly, Ikuho looked at Itachi, a slightly fearful and worried expression on her face, "W-What was that jutsu, Naruto-kun just cast? Why were his eyes bleeding so intensely?" Itachi turned his face a little to look her into the eyes before returning his gaze towards Naruto, who stood there, unmoving. "He used the ability of his left Mangekyō Sharingan, the ' **Akkorokamui** '... the Mangekyō Sharingan... it is a devious evolution of our Kekkei Genkai. Have you ever read the stone tablet in the Naka shrine?", asked Itachi with a straight face. Kimiko decided to listen in on their developing conversation, as well as, keeping her senses sharp for any potential threats to their squad.

Ikuho shook her head, "Then you don't know the effects the Mangekyō has on one's mind. The Mangekyō evolves from the standard Sharingan through especially strong emotions, just like the regular Sharingan, however, those emotions need to be way more powerful than those used to awaken the standard Sharingan. The foremost method of awakening it... is to kill the one closest to you!", declared Itachi as his own Mangekyō flared for a second, reminding him of Shisui's sacrifice. Ikuho's eyes widened so far that they threatened to fall out of her eye sockets, "D-Does that m-mean that Naruto-kun has ki-"

Before she could continue with her sentence, Itachi interrupted her, "No. Naruto did not awaken the Mangekyō that way. Just for the record me neither. In my case, I saw my best friend commit suicide in front of me, Kimiko and Naruto. But at that time Naruto already awakened his own Mangekyō. He awakened his, from what he told me, from the intense dread of perhaps losing his little sister during an assassination attempt on Aiko's life by Danzō's henchmen. The desire to see her safe and someday surpass him, just like I want to see Sasuke surpass me, was the decisive reason for its awakening. Additionally, it certainly helped to awaken his Mangekyō that he substituted himself with his sister to put her out of harm's way, thus putting himself into harm's way.", said Itachi as he remembered Naruto's story about the capture/assassination attempt on Aiko.

"So, it is a good thing he awakened it then, right?", asked Ikuho a bit naively. Itachi slowly shook his head, "No. One cannot for sure say that it was a good thing to awaken the Mangekyō. One could argue that the unique abilities one gains from its activation are worth the cost.", stated Itachi somberly. This caused Ikuho to perk up, "What cost?"

Itachi looked up into the sky, or he would've looked into the sky if the mist wasn't already reforming itself to its former density. His gaze returned to Naruto, "The cost of the Mangekyō Sharingan. Continuous use of the Mangekyō damages the eyes, severely. So severely, in fact, that overuse of its abilities, causes the wielder's eyes to seal up his light. In other words... overuse of the Mangekyō causes the wielder to inevitably go completely blind!"

"But then, why does one even use it, if you know that it makes you blind?", inquired Ikuho. Itachi once again shook his head, "It isn't that simple. The power granted by the Mangekyō can easily corrupt a person's mind. It feeds off of negative emotions such as rage and hate and empowers them. It brings out a person's worst side. When one is blinded by hate and rage, one is more inclined on using the Mangekyō, thus worsening one's eyesight. But you can't stop it. The immense power it grants is like a drug, addicting. Few have been able to resist this addicting feeling, me and Naruto being examples of which but even we need to use it's power every now and then, to save comrades for example. This addicting feeling is also the cause of the former Uchiha patriarch's madness, Uchiha Madara.", explained Itachi. Before they could finish their conversation though, they heard something hitting the ground in front of them.

* * *

After a few more seconds have passed, the bound man suddenly went limp after constant writhing in agony. Naruto stared a bit more at the corpse before he turned towards his friends and family member. He was able to merely walk a few feet before the pain from Mangekyō use caught up with him. He fiercely grabbed both his eyes in immense pain, falling to his knees in the process. This caused Ikuho, Kimiko, and Itachi to return their gaze forward at Naruto, only to see said person on his knees. Ikuho and Kimiko rushed to Naruto as Itachi slowly moved towards the corpses to investigate the results of Naruto's usage of ' **Akkorokamui** ' as he only heard about its effects from Naruto's story before the Uchiha massacre but never actually witnessed its use himself. He wanted to see the results of Naruto's ultimate ninjutsu and compare them to his own ultimate ninjutsu. He concluded that both jutsus have their uses and advantages as well as disadvantages.

Ikuho was doing her best to lessen her crush's pain by channeling large amounts of medical chakra into his chakra pathways. However, her chakra reserves weren't nearly big enough to cover even a quarter of Naruto's huge chakra reserves. This problem, however, was quickly solved when Kimiko shared her own chakra with Ikuho. The potency of Kimiko's chakra, also made it easier to cover Naruto's potent chakra. Slowly, Naruto calmed down and removed his hands from his face. He looked at them intently but his vision kept blurring out, showing the damage his eyes already received over the two years he had the Mangekyō. He glanced towards Itachi, or rather a blurred version of Itachi and wondered if Itachi's eyesight was also as bad as his already, ' _Most likely not. I used my eyes quite a lot in the last two years to save comrades and such on missions but Itachi is in ANBU. Although the missions are way harder, ANBU don't really help out other ANBU in combat, sacrificing comrades to fulfill the mission._ '

Naruto sighed as he felt relaxed by the medical chakra. He also felt the small cuts and scratches he received during this skirmish healing as well. Soon enough the relaxing source of medical chakra stopped and was replaced by the concerned voice of Ikuho, "Are you okay, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto just smiled softly, "Yeah... thanks for asking, Ikuho-chan. Are you all alright? I didn't hit anyone with my jutsu just now, right?", asked Naruto now his voice filled with concern. Ikuho replied with a smile of her own, "We're fine. Also, thank you for saving me there, guys." Naruto nodded slightly, inwardly relieved that Ikuho, Kimiko, and Itachi were alright and not injured. Naruto attempted to stand up but stumbled. He didn't hit the ground, however, as he was caught by his shoulders, by Itachi, who was actually smiling a little, as well as Kimiko, who was smiling at her elder brother. They turned towards Ikuho, who was smiling at them softly. Naruto's smile soon disappeared though as he looked past Ikuho to see the carnage around, "Zetsu."

Zetsu appeared from the ground, " **You called, Naruto-sama?** ", asked Black Zetsu. Naruto nodded once, "Yes, please clean up the area, and remove any sign of human existence in this area. Nobody must know what happened here, or the enemy might gain an advantage by analyzing the battlefield and corpses strewn around.", ordered Naruto. Zetsu nodded once before slowly disappearing into the ground again. While sinking into the ground, White Zetsu replied with his usual cheery voice, "As you wish, Naruto-sama."

"Let us get back to the camp, I need to rest.", said Naruto as Kimiko and Itachi nodded and together the team of four left the warehouse area, conveniently ignoring the happy munching sounds of one cannibalistic human-plant hybrid. They took a bit longer than before to return to the camp, as Naruto wasn't in the condition to be tree-hopping at the moment. As such they couldn't travel at maximum speed. Still, they did their best to keep the mood up high, talking about trivial things. Well, Kimiko and Ikuho did most of the talking while the guys were just content with listening to them and looking at the beautiful misty forests of this country. Soon enough though, they finally reached their destination.

They helped Naruto navigate towards their tents, on the way seeing Gai once again carrying a dead-looking Kakashi piggy-back, who was just exhaustedly muttering, "Gotta... increase my chakra... reserves." This put a smile on everyone's faces. They soon came upon a forked way, where the left way would bring them to their tents, while the right way headed towards the leader's tent. When Itachi and Kimiko wanted to turn left, Naruto stopped them, "Don't... I have intel that needs to get to Mei-sama!"

Itachi instantly complied and moved towards the right way but Kimiko protested, "Nii-san, you're suffering from chakra depletion. You need to rest immediately.", said Kimiko as she managed to put one o her hands on her hip and glared a bit at her brother. Naruto just chuckled weakly, "Don't worry Nee-chan, it won't take too long, just a few minutes. Just the intel I got from the one person, nothing more, nothing less.", argued Naruto. Eventually, Kimiko sighed with a small smile. Naruto was just as stubborn as she could be, "Alright, no more than five minutes or I'll show you what Kaa-chan has taught me to punish Ero-sennin, should he do something perverted again." This threat actually made Naruto go a little pale and gulp nervously. Their mother didn't joke around when Jiraiya did something inappropriate around them. Naruto nodded and smiled nervously, hoping his sister wouldn't go through with her threat. Kimiko sighed and helped Naruto towards Mei's tent.

After a minute they stood in front of Mei's tent, "Mei-sama, can we enter?", asked Kimiko softly, hoping not to disturb Mei too much. Inside the tent, Mei was reading through border reports and activities from loyalist forces. Upon hearing the question, Mei looked up from the reports and gave them permission to enter the tent. From the voice she did expect Naruto's team to enter, but not Naruto being carried like a wounded, "Is everything alright with you?", asked Mei worriedly.

Naruto just smiled, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Just a little tired.", his face then turned serious, "I don't know if you were informed already, but someone informed Yagura's forces that we would raid these warehouses."

Mei nodded solemnly, "Yes, I was informed already. Kakashi-san's team just returned as well, Asuma-san was slightly injured and Kakashi looks even worse than you do. But Gai-san seems like he could still run a marathon or two. Unfortunately, the two other squads I sent were able to survive the ambush and were found by our patrols, and later returned in body bags", stated Mei, her voice turning somber at her last sentence.

Everyone in the tent made a short prayer to wish the deceased a good afterlife. After finishing his prayer, Naruto returned his gaze upon Mei, "I have interrogated the squad leader of the ambush unit that attacked our warehouse. Through my genjutsu, I managed to extract vital information on the person who leaked information about the spy.", declared Naruto. Mei stood up and slammed her hands on the table, "Tell me his name and he'll die immediately. He's responsible for the death of two of my squads!"

Nobody flinched at her outburst since it was understandable that she reacted this way. A leader takes the deaths of his subordinates to heart, "Please stay calm, Mei-sama. We can't afford to kill him... yet.", stated Itachi calmly. Naruto nodded in approval to his best friends conclusion, "Exactly, this can be an opportunity to cripple Yagura's forces. We must simply feed the spy with the information we want him to get. And the easiest way for that is to make him believe that he hasn't been caught yet. His name is Kurisuke and apparently, he has been deployed into the intel department if I'm not mistaken.", revealed Naruto.

Mei nodded, "Yes, he is a member of the intel department but I never would've expected him to be a spy. He's done an excellent job in viewing through intel and reporting everything to me. Do you have any proof of your accusation? The man who told you could've just lied to you.", asked Mei as she sat back down in her chair. Naruto shook his head, "No, he was physically unable to lie to me. The genjutsu I used on him, grants me control over the victim's movement, thoughts, and actions. All in all, I basically control the victim. Thus his brain found no reason to lie to me, although his conscience may have wanted to.", stated Naruto.

Mei nodded, "Well, what do you want me to do then? If I can't simply arrest and/or kill him, what should we do?" Naruto smirked a little, "We're gonna do as following..."

* * *

 **Later that day**

Kurisuke had just finished his evening shift in the intel department and prepared to go to his tent to rest for the night. Exiting the Intel tent, which is situated next to the leader's tent, he heard something interesting. ' _Those Kekkei Genkai loving fools! They didn't feed the privacy seals enough chakra._ ', thought Kurisuke to himself with a smirk. He hid in a spot near the tent to listen in on the discussion inside.

"Mei-sama, we should focus on conquering the western checkpoint island. It's mostly abandoned due to it's close proximity to Kirigakure and its location is a prime tactical position for an invasion of Kirigakure later on! Additionally, once we captured that position we'll be able to encircle the enemy at this island.", proposed a military commander as he pointed towards a little fortification on an island not too far from Rebel territory. The other commanders voiced their approval to the plan. Mei had her hand to her chin, evaluating the worth of the western checkpoint.

"I see the advantages of the plan, but what if our guesses are wrong and Yagura stationed forces there?", said Mei making her concerns about this place known. The next thing Kurisuke heard made him clench his fist in anger... a thunderous laugh, "Please Mei-sama, he hasn't come out of his fortress once since the begin of the war. Some already believe he is a coward, he wouldn't even bother to get food himself when his people are starving. Even less, taking soldiers from the front to re-deploy at this fort. It's so close to the mainland of ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** ') that its location is defense enough.", argued the same commander. Mei was silent for a minute before sighing slightly, "Very well, I accept your plan and trust in your tactical experience. Tell the forces to up their training, we'll assault in a few months time, enough to up our military strength again to match whatever forces Yagura may send to retake the checkpoint after we conquered it.", ordered Mei, causing everyone inside to salute and to start to leave the tent.

Kurisuke also took this as his cue to leave his hiding position, heading towards the border of the camp, not noticing the two small yellowish-green orbs, on the side of the crate he was hiding behind, closing and disappearing.

Inside the tactical tent, on the map containing the plans to the current war, were lines drawn for invasions. But unlike their conversation, there was not a single line drawn on the west of ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** ') but rather on the east, which contained a fortress, a large armory, and the Bloody prison, holding mostly prisoners of war but also wielders of various Kekkei Genkai, who are forced to work in mines, to fund the loyalist side of the civil war with the limited resources their land provided.

* * *

 **Naruto's tent, a minute later**

Naruto was currently lying in his bed, resting from the strain of his Mangekyō usage, reading the scroll Zetsu brought to him earlier the same day. He was trying to comprehend the jutsu inside, hoping to put it to use for emergencies, but it was harder to grasp than he thought. His musings were interrupted however when Zetsu's upper body half appeared from the ground, "Naruto-sama, **Kurisuke took the bait.** ", informed Zetsu.

Naruto rolled the scroll back together, taking note of where he was currently, he sealed the scroll away and looked at Zetsu, "That's good to hear, inform Mei-sama and Nee-chan of this development.", ordered Naruto. Zetsu merely nodded and disappeared again. Looking over to the clock above his temporary desk, he saw that it was quite late already. Deciding to return to resting, Naruto closed his eyes, trying to go to sleep, when he was interrupted once again, this time by a little wolf, who appeared in a poof of smoke, with a scroll in its mouth, the same wolf he sent the day prior with a message back to Konoha.

Naruto sat up in his bed, taking the scroll from the wolf while also petting the wolf, thanking it for the delivery before it returned to its realm in a familiar poof of smoke. He opened the scroll, to see his little sisters' writing. He recognized it instantly due to the big 'Onii-chan' at the beginning of the message and the stick figure drawing of their whole family at the end. Naruto smiled at her attempt to draw better than just stick figures but obviously failed. He chuckled slightly and laid back to read the message Aiko wrote for him. He smiled throughout the whole reading process, his smile widening slightly every time she mentioned how she beat Sasuke in a taijutsu spar again and how he complained that it was only due to him being without Sharingan yet.

Upon finishing, he laid the message on his chest, thinking about the rest of his family back in Konoha, and how much he missed them already and how he would be unable to see them for two years. Telling himself he will write a reply tomorrow morning, he put the scroll on his night table and returned to his sleep. Before he could fall asleep, however, he thought, ' _Don't worry, im_ _ōto-chan. Soon we'll all be back together..._ '

* * *

 **Next day, late afternoon**

On top of a hill, staring at the setting sun, sat two persons on the soft grass, leaning against a tree. One was male and the other female. The female person was resting her head on the male's shoulder, reveling in the beauty of the scenery. The setting sun, a beautiful misty forest below and the orange, red sky before it turned darker and darker into the night sky. She sighed in content as she cuddled a bit closer to the male and smiled. Said male was smiling himself, his arm put around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. They sat like this for at least an hour already, having eaten lunch together on this hill, talking about trivial things, temporarily forgetting the war currently plaguing this particular land.

Their comfortable silence was interrupted when the female sat up, leaving her place on the male's shoulder, "Naruto? I need to ask you something.", said the female. The now revealed Naruto rose an eyebrow and moved into a more comfortable position, "Sure, what is it, Ikuho?"

Ikuho looked at the half gone sun, "Why did you wait until two days ago to ask me out on a date? Wouldn't it have been better and safer to do that back in the village?", asked Ikuho truly confused, ' _I mean we're in a war. Not the most romantic setting for a date._ ', thought Ikuho. She looked at Naruto to see him looking at her with a soft look, "I didn't do that for multiple reasons.", he started only for his face to turn sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head, "The most prominent reason is that I really had no idea how to." This statement, of course, caused Ikuho to sweatdrop. A few seconds later Naruto stopped rubbing the back of his head and his sheepish look turned into a deadpan, "The second reason is that we won't be annoyed by that perverted godfather of mine, Jiraiya..."

His deadpan caused Ikuho to giggle, mentally taking note of somehow blackmailing Naruto to get her a steady supply of Jiraiya's books. "Of course, then there are my parents. My father wouldn't be such a pain in the ass to deal with, but my mother... let's just say she is picky about who gets to be with me. Not that she wouldn't approve of you but you should've seen her when we walked through the village a few months ago and Kaa-chan glared like the Shinigami at any girl looking at me with heart-shaped eyes. Of course, the boys that were ogling my sisters weren't excluded from her glares, and mine as a matter of fact. Lastly, only as we were drawn into this war, did I truly get how quickly our lives could be ended. I've been on a lot of dangerous missions already, but I don't think any of those can compare to the intensity and danger of war. That may not have been the first reason but it was the deciding factor."

Ikuho's face mirrored her voiced reaction, "Ahh..." Nodding to herself, confirming that those reasons were understandable, Ikuho gave a quick peck on Naruto's cheek, making Naruto and Ikuho blush. Ikuho looked away in embarrassment since Naruto didn't react at all to her quick kiss and was mentally ranting at how stupid that was. They just were in the middle of their first date and she already kissed him, even if it was just on his cheek. Her mental rants were interrupted by a hand gently squeezing her shoulder, she looked at Naruto, who held his left index finger on his lips, signaling her to be quiet. She would've thought that a threat was around, if it wasn't for Naruto's amused yet slightly annoyed expression, she would've armed herself. Naruto's eyes darted around between her and a tree about ten yards away from them. Subtly looking at the tree, she saw a well-hidden Kakashi with a camera, also reading his Icha Icha Paradise book.

Looking back at Naruto she understood why he didn't react to her kiss. Kakashi most likely hoped that the sound of her kiss would overtone the click of his camera, but he underestimated Naruto's hearing abilities. Naruto must've heard him and was annoyed that someone was spying on them, but almost immediately thought of a way to punish him. Ikuho heard the silent drawing of Naruto's kunai and saw him hiding it in his long sleeves. Then in a flash, he threw the kunai at Kakashi's position. Not expecting Naruto to notice him, Kakashi was so startled that he straight out fell down from the branch he was sitting on, directly on his face, his camera now pierced by Naruto's kunai. Kakashi stood up to dust himself off, trying to at least maintain a slight bit of dignity, only to notice a second kunai, which protruded from his book. Kakashi's eyes widened to the size of saucers in horror before he looked at Naruto, only to see both him and Ikuho with a very dark look on their faces, towering over him, "Do you have an explanation as to why you're here?", asked Ikuho sweetly, cracking her fists threateningly.

"Ah... ah, you see... ah...", stammered Kakashi sweating profusely. He totally couldn't tell them that Jiraiya paid him to spy on Naruto to see if he had romantic interactions with anyone during their stay away from Konoha. That would just prolong his torture. "Let me guess... Jiraiya put you up to it, right?", questioned Naruto drawing another kunai from his sleeve. Kakashi's face wasn't simply sweating anymore, it was a literal waterfall now, "Ahh... mercy?", asked Kakashi hoping to get Naruto to spare him.

"Hmmm, what do you think, Ikuho-chan?", asked Naruto uncharacteristically cheery. Ikuho's smile sweetened even more, if that was even possible, "Hmm, how about... no. Naruto-kun please stay back a bit and let me show Kakashi what womanly fury can achieve when the woman also has medical training. Now onto the pervert...", said Ikuho looking at Naruto, mimicking Kakashi's usual eye smile while speaking in an innocent singsong voice. Naruto smirked and nodded, stepping back a few feet. Kakashi was shouting, "NO, NARUTO PLEASE DON'T LET HER! PLEASE... AHH", Kakashi's cries for help, soon became cries of pain, as Ikuho beat him up, and healed him again, just to cut his tendons in the most painful way possible, just to simply heal the damage again.

After a grueling 10 minutes of torture, Ikuho backed off of Kakashi, to appreciate her work. Kakashi looked seemingly dead, though one could see his breathing. Ikuho sighed happily, dusting off her hands, once finished she turned around to see Naruto with his Sharingan awakened. As she questioned the reason why, he simply answered, "Something so beautiful must be recorded and since Zetsu isn't here to do that for us, I made sure to be able to remember that." Ikuho blushed a bit at having her 'work' being called beautiful and she playfully bowed down like an artist after having his art complimented. Naruto smiled and they looked at the now fully set sun, the moon now shining behind their backs. They returned to their place at the tree and reasoned to stay a bit longer, and revel in the beauty of the night sky... and the sounds of pain from Kakashi.

* * *

 **That night**

Late in the night, when everybody was sleeping, Naruto was wide awake. He had finally read through the whole scroll, now understanding context given at the beginning. He grinned a little as he slowly began to perform a few hand seals, making sure to do it as subtle as possible so no one would notice the slight spike of chakra and alert everybody in the camp, Rabbit → Boar → Ram. As he held the Ram seal, a small seal matrix spread over the iris of his right Sharingan eye. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, fading into nothingness. Naruto breath hitched a little at the cost of chakra but he was still grinning.

' _A new record for mastering a new technique. Now to set the conditions..._ ', thought Naruto as he adjusted the now invisible seal matrix for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **Author note: Well... I said I was going to update weekly, and I failed. Then I said I'll try to at least get out a chapter every two weeks... and now it's been what? 19 days? Hmmm, yeah apparently I've mastered timing as well as Kakashi, just a few days late...**

 **Anyway... I hope you enjoyed the newest installment of 'The Second Coming of the Legendary Sannin' and I'm looking forward to reading your reviews. I'm really sorry for the delay but it's released now, finally. Additionally, I start to regret labeling the fanfic under Romance as I realize how bad I am at writing things like that :D.**

 **Well, that was everything from me, hopefully, the next chapter comes out in two weeks time at the maximum. See ya next time.**


	14. Kirigakure Civil War: Part III

**Chapter 14**

"Talking"

' _Thinking / Flashbacks_ '

" **Demon or Black Zetsu Talking / Jutsu usage** "

' **Demon or Black Zetsu Thinking / Mentioning of a Jutsu** '

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto except for the OC characters I create.** **If I were to choose a character from Naruto that resembled my usual attitude the most, it would be Shikamaru from Part One. Troublesome.**

* * *

 **Outside of a small town**

In a clearing, bordering a small coast town, Team Naruto was planning the necessary actions to complete their current mission as discreet and silent as possible. Their objective was the assassination of four disguised shinobi who spy for the loyalist forces of the Mizukage in this rebel-supporting town. Of course, it was in the Rebel's interest to root out any spies as any drunk shinobi could accidentally leak secrets and tactics to the wrong people, especially to those with beautiful faces. The targets were three kunoichi who collected the information in inns, by seducing their targets, and other establishments, and a single shinobi who sorted through the collected intel; dividing it between useful and useless intel.

Thus Mei ordered Team Naruto to take care of this problem. They became more and more of a problem as their information gathering forced the Rebel forces to retreat from a fort, although the Rebels were able to retake the fort fairly quick. Still, the fact that the loyalists found the weaknesses of the fortification so quickly, showed the danger coming from these four spies.

And so, we see Team Naruto currently discussing who would assassinate who, "Itachi, you'll go after the shinobi who sorts through the information. We got a pointer that he is supposed to reside in a cellar somewhere near the center of the town. Understood?", asked Naruto as Itachi nodded in affirmation. Naruto directed his gaze towards his sister, "Nee-chan, you'll go after her," said Naruto as he pointed towards a picture of the kunoichi in question, "she is around the eastern parts of the town most of the day and returns to the town center early in the morning, most of the time after secretly killing the one she spend her night with. Understood?", Kimiko nodded as well. "That leaves only me and Ikuho-chan. Ikuho, we'll search for the last two together as we cannot afford our only medic-nin to perform such a task alone.", said Naruto. Ikuho nodded as well as saying, "Understood."

"Well, now all that's left is carrying out the assassinations. We'll regroup here tomorrow at 8 am at the latest. If you finish early come back here and wait for the rest. Let's go!", said Naruto as he dismissively waved his hand. Kimiko and Itachi nodded to each other and to Naruto and Ikuho before disappearing into the evening. Kimiko in the usual Konoha swirling leaves shunshin, while Itachi used his unique shunshin, disappearing into a flock of crows. Naruto rose up and offered his hand to Ikuho, who took it, to more easily stand up from her position. They dusted themselves off before adorning a travel cloak, to better blend in with the evening crowd as well as taking off their forehead protectors to further throw off the enemy. Nodding to themselves they went to the west entrance of the town. It didn't take long for them to see the said gate in the distance. From where they were standing, one could see bright lights and cheering coming from the town.

Both Ikuho and Naruto rose an eyebrow at this after all their country was in the middle of civil war and yet they were... celebrating? Ikuho whispered to Naruto, "Must be some kind of festival." Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a second, before nodding slightly as he opened his eyes once again, "I agree,", he whispered back, "still we should get some more information as to what kind of festival it is. With such information we may be able to better blend in with our environment and identify our target.", said Naruto quietly. At this moment he saw a slightly tipsy man coming from the town. Naruto glanced at Ikuho and silently told her to let him ask the man about the festival. Ikuho nodded back and slowed down a bit to let Naruto take the lead. He approached the man who was a bit stumbling around, "Excuse me sir, but could you answer me a question please?"

Said man looked up from the ground showing that he was a little bit more than just tipsy. From the look on his face, he was completely and utterly drunk, "S-sure. W-what question d-do you *hicc* have?", asked the man barely being able to stand straight up while giving Ikuho some lustful glances. Naruto seeing his glances moved in front of Ikuho, blocking the man's sight on Ikuho. This caused the man to snarl, and in his drunken stupor, lash out at Naruto with a slow weak punch, already having forgotten the question Naruto gave him in favor of ogling the beautiful woman accompanying him. Naruto caught said punch easily. He squeezed the man's fist in an iron grip, causing the man pain. The man looked up at Naruto to spit him in the face but found himself to be paralyzed by his crimson shining eyes, "I believe, I asked you a question.", said Naruto calmly as he released the man's fist, which immediately dropped down limply at his side. "Yes, please ask me anything I'll answer what I can.", said the man, now looking completely dead inside as he was currently under a simple sharingan genjutsu forcing him to obey.

"What festival is currently being celebrated in the town?", asked Naruto, now allowing Ikuho to step next to him. "Oh, that? We're celebrating the greatness of the sea gods and thanking them for the lucrative catches we made this year.", said the man. Naruto looked ahead towards the town and truthfully, with his Sharingan he could recognize the signs and names of various gods, sea-related and not. Deactivating his Sharingan, Naruto looked back at the man, "Thank you for your cooperation. I believe you were about to go home and sober up.", said Naruto as he released the genjutsu while looking at the man with an authoritative gaze. The man simply held his head in slight pain due to a headache and grumbled out, "Y-yeah." With that said the man went away in the direction of his home.

Looking at the back of the man for a few more seconds, Ikuho and Naruto turned back towards the town. As they went Ikuho looked at Naruto with a bit of awe, "Amazing, Naruto-kun. To instantly catch someone under your genjutsu with a simple gaze. As far as I know only those truly gifted can weave the genjutsu that quickly. I don't think I would be able to do that.", said Ikuho as she sighed a bit sadly. Naruto looked at Ikuho with a little bit of amusement sparkling in his eyes, "Don't worry about something like that, Ikuho. I've trained very hard to match Itachi in genjutsu after he awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan. His ' **Tsukuyomi** ' truly is the pinnacle of genjutsu. To freely manipulate both time and space at the same time is simply amazing. It could only be compared to Shisui-san's ' **Kotoamatsukami** ' as well as my own ' **Omoikane** '. Well, you could put all three of those genjutsus on the same level, all being the pinnacle of genjutsu in their field. Also, I used a simple sharingan induced genjutsu on a civilian, a drunk one at that, so there is nothing that amazing about that.", said Naruto hoping that Ikuho wouldn't turn into some kind of fangirl as he didn't want Ikuho to become like one... completely and utterly useless.

Ikuho made a 'o' with her mouth as she calmed down and scratched her chin in thought, a move Naruto didn't miss, "Is something wrong, Ikuho-chan?" Ikuho looked at Naruto, "Well, it's only that I know next to nothing about those three jutsus you just mentioned." Naruto smiled a little, "I see, you've never heard about any of those three?", asked Naruto once again to be sure. Ikuho nodded, causing Naruto's smile to widen just a tiny bit, "Well, I refer to those three genjutsus as the 'Triangle of Genjutsu'. First, we have at the bottom right, my original genjutsu, ' **Omoikane** '. It is cast from my right Mangekyō Sharingan and allows me to isolate my yin chakra from my yang chakra and insert it into the target's circulatory chakra system, beginning a 'battle' of yin chakra. The one with stronger yin chakra wins and if it happens to be my yin chakra that won, I take control of the target's mental powers, meaning his thoughts, thus his actions. In short, once I win the battle the target's own will is completely subdued and he is turned into a kind of thrall.", explained Naruto. He was about to continue, when Ikuho interrupted, "What if you lose that 'battle'?"

Naruto's smile grew a bit more, "I've only ever experienced a single instance in which I lost that 'battle'. Itachi and I once fought in a spar with no rules. I tried to end the battle quickly by utilizing my Mangekyō's genjutsu to make Itachi surrender. It appeared as though he anticipated such a move and activated his own Mangekyō Sharingan. Once the 'battle' started, I noticed how my chakra was unable to break through his yin chakra. My shock was so great, that Itachi managed to seize that opportunity and kick me out of his chakra system. Having my chakra forcefully ejected caused me immense pain in my right eye, requiring me to shut my right eye close as I temporarily lost my visual prowess in my right eye. It's something I hope to never experience again. From that experience we concluded that my ' **Omoikane** ' can only be countered by those possessing the Mangekyō Sharingan.", said Naruto as he unconsciously moved his right hand to his right eye, remembering the pain he experienced that day.

Shaking his head to dismiss those thoughts quickly, he began to explain the rest of the genjutsu, "Then, in the bottom left, we have Itachi's ' **Tsukuyomi** ' which he casts from his left eye. As I already stated, Itachi can freely manipulate time and space in his genjutsu. He can make you experience several days in a mere second or make seconds feel like actual hours. He could make you experience your whole life as he would want you to experience it, without you even noticing. The only drawback would be that the brain would simply give out afterward from the intake of so many experiences and memories at once. But more often than not, his targets just fall into a genjutsu induced coma from which none have ever woken up. Some of his targets are still in the ANBU headquarters, as they are researching the effects Itachi's genjutsu has on the human psyche. Just like with my genjutsu, it is only blockable by those who possess the Mangekyō Sharingan, like me for an example.", said Naruto, pausing a little to let the information sink in. He turned his gaze towards the gate which was slowly coming closer and closer.

Returning his gaze to Ikuho he saw her look, wishing to know about the last of the genjutsu. Naruto nodded at the silent 'command' and started to explain the last genjutsu, "The last genjutsu of the triangle is the only Mangekyō Sharingan ability of Uchiha Shisui, which sits at the top of the triangle, standing atop the ' **Tsukuyomi** ' and the ' **Omoikane** ', being the superior genjutsu after all. Its name is ' **Kotoamatsukami** ' and is the strongest of the three due to its effectiveness coupled with its simplicity. The caster of the jutsu subtly suggests the target ideas, as well as implant memories to back those ideas and suggestions up. This causes the target to act like he is doing everything completely on his own, although everything he does is completely being controlled by the caster. Unfortunately, Uchiha Shisui deceased a few days before the Uchiha Massacre at his own hands, as the former head of the ANBU division and main instigator of the planned Uchiha uprising, Shimura Danzō, stole Shisui's right eye and implanted it in his right eye socket. Shisui was able to flee before Danzō managed to steal his left eye as well and met up with me and Nee-chan with the help of our former Root spy. He requested our aid to help him speak with Itachi one last time. After the talk, Shisui himself ripped out his left eye and gifted it to Itachi before stumbling down a cliff directly into the Naka river, achieving his last goal, the awakening of Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan.", said Naruto as his face betrayed no emotion, except for a small bit of sadness being visible in his eyes.

Ikuho had it a bit worse as a few tears managed to leak out of her eyes, remembering how half of her clan, including her parents were killed because they supported a foolish coup d'etat, as well as hearing the story of the death of Uchiha Shisui whose speed was said to only be bested by the Yondaime Raikage and Hokage. She would've started crying at the memory of her parents had she not felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Naruto smiling down at her. She couldn't help herself but smile a bit herself. She wiped her tears as she returned her gaze to the gates of the town, which were now only a few yards away. Seeing that Ikuho was feeling better, Naruto let his smile slip and adorned a stoic expression, thinking about one thing, ' _I wonder how Itachi and Nee-chan are doing..._ '

* * *

 **With Kimiko**

Opposite to Ikuho and Naruto, Kimiko quickly and silently entered the eastern part of the town. Concealing her chakra, as she hid behind a crate, she extended her sensory radius to cover the whole town and about five miles beyond the town. She sensed Itachi approaching the center of the town, disguising himself as a mere civilian who was either attending the annual festival or who was simply browsing the stores and markets. On another note she sensed her brother and Ikuho talking to a civilian who was apparently under Naruto's genjutsu. Concentrating on finding the disguised enemy shinobis, she took a few seconds before managing to find all four of them. Itachi's target was sleeping in the spies' base, recovering from an exhausting workday most likely. Her brother's and Ikuho's targets were roaming around the town, most likely trying to find a suitable male to 'prey' on. Then she found her target.

She was currently with another chakra signature, although the second one was so weak it could only have been a civilian or a very, very drunk shinobi. It seems as though her target already found her prey and was leading him to her private area. Nodding to herself, Kimiko formed half a Ram seal with her right hand before mumbling, " **Kagerō** " (" **Mayfly** "). And just like that Kimiko sunk into the ground, leaving no trace of her being there in the first place. She stalked her target through the ground, waiting for the perfect moment to kill her. That meant for her she had to watch... some things a sixteen-year-old girl probably shouldn't have seen yet, causing Kimiko to blush heavily until she forced herself to calm down and the blush disappeared. She waited for the male to leave. She had to only endure another thirty minutes of the pair's actions before the male truly left. The woman stood up from the bed she was in and began to write down all the information she got from tonight's male. After finishing up her report, she went back to bed and was asleep only a few seconds later.

Seeing her target in deep sleep, Kimiko emerged from the ground and went to get the woman's 'choking utensils'. Once she found those she formed her hands into a Snake seal. Channeling her chakra in a specific way, Kimiko sprouted a small flower from the wooden bed's headboard until it hung a foot above her. As if she mentally ordered the plant, the flower suddenly opened its petals to reveal the beautiful flower it is. Only seconds later pollen started to stream down onto the spies face. Her eyes snapped open at once but she already inhaled the pollen and as such was unable to move at all until her consciousness wavered and she fell unconscious instead of being asleep. Seeing her target completely out, Kimiko, still having her hands in the Snake seal, changed the channel of her chakra.

This caused the flower to disappear back into the headboard. It was immediately replaced by a wooden tendril, which stalked down towards the woman's neck. It wrapped around her neck and squeezed abruptly, crushing her throat and breaking her neck. The woman, however, felt none of that as the pollen she inhaled were mixed with strong painkillers to make the death as humane as possible. Nodding to her handiwork, Kimiko dismissed the tendril and sealed the body away into a special scroll she and her brother made for them to store the body in a kind of preserving paralysis to research the body for loyalist' secrets later on. Before leaving the establishment, Kimiko made sure to destroy all evidence as well as information the spy gathered. Without a second glance, Kimiko sunk back into the ground, leaving the establishment as if no one ever lived there.

She reappeared at the spot they had started and laid down on a tree branch to rest, waiting for her comrades and sibling, while sensing anything that went within a two-mile radius of her position.

* * *

 **With Itachi**

Itachi was walking through the town, searching for any hints as to where his target was, as well as..., getting Sasuke something for when they returned to Konoha. As he was walking from market stand to market stand, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. One of Naruto's and Ikuho's targets walking very directed. Itachi decided to shadow her from a distance, keeping his distance while letting her lead him to his target and maybe take her out as well, easing Naruto's and Ikuho's part in the job.

He kept his stoic eyes on her and shadowed her from a good distance for a few minutes, in which she turned around many times to make sure she wasn't followed. Each time she did, Itachi would just blend in with the crowd of festival-goers, at one point also buying Sasuke a set of kunai unique to ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** '). Finally, she believed that no one noticed her she slipped into an average looking house. Nodding to himself, Itachi himself entered the house. His feet weren't even making a sound as he utilized the little knowledge they got about the Silent Killing Technique that was unique to Kirigakure. As he entered he noticed that the house was dark, very dark on the inside. None of the electric lights were turned on, most likely in an attempt to make people believe that no one was at home. As such the only thing one could see of Itachi were his crimson glowing eyes, as he preferred to keep his Sharingan active as much as possible to unconsciously train his chakra control. Also, it made him feel more comfortable knowing that he could perhaps evade any surprise attack they may attempt.

As such Itachi stalked through the house, searching for the two targets inside. After a few minutes of roaming around the house, his Sharingan picked up a minor detail. A small part of the rug on the ground was stuck in the ground, indicating a trapdoor beneath. Silently removing the rug, Itachi descended the ladder, leading him into the basement. He hid behind a corner as he overheard the loyalist shinobi's conversation, waiting for his opportunity to kill both easily, "The one today didn't have any useful information. It felt like he was too dumb to breathe or eat. Let's hope Harue-chan and Etsuko-chan get something out of their picks tonight.", the female said with an exhausted sigh. The man nodded putting down his pen as he stretched on the chair he was sitting in. The female was mimicking his movement, giving Itachi the opportunity he was waiting for.

He rushed behind the male while creating a ' **Kage Bunshin** ' (' **Shadow Clone** ') without forming any hand seals, who rushed behind the female, both already having drawn a kunai. And just like that both of their throats adorned a clean thin slice until blood started to flow out in rivers, as Itachi severed an artery in both of their necks. Soon after, both targets entered their eternal sleep, Itachi's clone dispelled itself, returning its experience to the original. Itachi looked at the two corpses with zero emotion in his expression. Although he was a sworn pacifist, Itachi knew that without killing he wouldn't make it far in the shinobi world. Thus he suppressed his wish for pacifism at the moments of killing to not freeze. Giving a very short prayer for the two deceased, he sealed them into his scroll and left destroyed all evidence and gathered information, of course, after looking through them to look for relevant information they could use against the Mizukage.

Unfortunately, no relevant information was found, and as such he burned down the information and left at a comfortable pace, as he wasn't in a rush to get to the rallying point. Yet before leaving the house, he wrote a small note, to inform Naruto that he took out one of their targets. He bound the note to the foot of a crow he summoned and ordered it to bring the note to Naruto. The crow flew through an open window towards Naruto's and Ikuho's position.

* * *

 **With Naruto and Ikuho**

While both Itachi and Kimiko were dealing with their targets as quickly as possible, Ikuho and Naruto decided to browse through the stores, market stands, and other establishments, testing games that were unique to ' **Mizu no Kuni** ' (' **Land of Water** '), eating foods unique to this land and more. They spent some well-deserved and needed quality time since they haven't had the chance to do so for the whole year they were in this land already. In the whole year since their confession of love for each other, they have managed to only have small picnic dates, so this festival was a welcomed distraction. Of course their eyes, simultaneously darted around trying to find their target as discreet as possible.

They were currently walking down the main road of the town when Ikuho saw Naruto's nose twitch a bit as if he caught a scent like a predator. When Naruto then opened a pouch on his hip, Ikuho was confused. ' _What's up with the pouch?_ ', thought Ikuho before she saw something white quickly fall into his pocket from above. She looked up only to see a single black feather hover towards the ground. She wanted to grab the feather as it hovered only a bit above her, but another hand grabbed the feather before she could. Following the movement of the arm, she saw Naruto holding the feather towards her smiling a soft smile. Ikuho returned the smile, and as she grabbed the feather from his hand, she began thinking of a place in her hair that would be decorated best with this feather, for the moment ignoring the note Naruto was reading, as she was sure he would tell her after reading it.

As Ikuho was thinking about decorating her hair, Naruto read the small note Itachi had sent them with one of his crow summons. It read, ' _Eliminated one of your targets. Spy that normally roams the western part of the town._ ' Naruto nodded to himself in understanding and willed his chakra to form a small flame to appear in his hand, igniting the paper and burning it to ashes within moments. Looking at Ikuho, who now adorned a single crow feather in her hair, which was not easy to see as her hair was almost as black as the feather itself, he whispered the received information to her, "Itachi managed to kill one of our targets. It's useless now to roam the western part of the town, we should head up to the northern parts and look for the one named Suchimu Etsuko."

With that, they departed from the west and headed to the north, still browsing the festival like any couple would, while searching for their target like any shinobi would. They took quite a bit of time and Naruto could already see the horizon turn orange, a sign of the nearing sunset, and still no sign of their target. Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit and cursed mentally, ' _Damnit, where's she?_ '

They continued the search for quite a bit of time until sunset truly descended upon them and the moon and stars were already visible bright in the sky. Getting sick of this waiting, and getting a little bit impatient, Naruto wove a subtle genjutsu around his head, concealing the activation of his Sharingan. His eyes darted about as they tried to catch any kind of clue as to where their target hid. That's when he saw it. To the eye, almost invisible footprints! He followed their direction and lo and behold there she was in an alley, pinning a man to the wall by his hands, who was babbling something incoherent. His eyes were glazed over, and as such Naruto could deduce he was under a genjutsu to extract intel. Yet she didn't seem to have sensed them, meaning she had to be a newbie at this. A shame that he was contracted to kill her when she was this new. He looked at Ikuho and saw that she had come to the same conclusion.

Approaching them Naruto faked worry, "Is the man in need of help, ma'am?" Obviously being startled, the woman jerked a bit with her body, turning around to face Naruto, already having sensed the huge amount of chakra inside him. He was no doubt immune against any genjutsu she would try, she thought to herself. She glanced over to the girl accompanying the man and thought maybe she could try her luck with this one, manage to isolate her and extract important intel. Having decided on a course of action, she subtly weaved a mind-controlling genjutsu on Ikuho, hiding it under small-talk. Her eyes widened in surprise when her attempt to lull the girl into obedience was thwarted in mere seconds.

She could see Ikuho's eyes filled with barely contained rage, as was usual for Uchiha, not that she knew Ikuho was an Uchiha anyway. She glanced up at the man and saw his eyes twinkling with a little bit of amusement. Then the regions around their eyes blurred, revealing to two pairs of crimson eyes staring deep into her soul. The woman spy wanted to run but she couldn't move her body. She looked down in horror to see large metal spikes in her body, blocking her movement. She would've no doubt struggled further, hadn't she started to feel sleepy all of a sudden. She tried to stay awake but the sleep was so seductive and after a short battle she succumbed to the sleep, never guessing that this sleep would be eternal.

Outside of the obvious genjutsu, Naruto stood in front of the woman's corpse, her throat sliced with a clean-cut, the kunai that had done the deed sitting firmly in Naruto's hand. Looking away from the corpse, he looked at the beforehand genjutsu'd man whose eyes were now as large as saucers from seeing the corpse of that beautiful woman that had flirted with him in the inn next door, and her murderer in front of him the weapon still in his hand.

Anger flooded the man's mind as he saw one of the two persons start to open a scroll and the corpse of her disappeared. So they not only kill innocent women but also steal their corpses so they can't be buried properly. That was indeed the last straw and the man, albeit shakily, stood up and went to punch Naruto straight in the face when he was captured by his red eyes. More so the left eye that had the pattern of a snowflake. It looked so beautiful that it was hard to look away. ' _No I mustn't get distracted! I can't let these murderers get awa- ... What murder? What am I doing here?_ ', thought the man as he suddenly stood in the alley looking around, confused beyond explanation.

Naruto sighed as he cut the chakra supply to his eyes and they returned to their normal cerulean color. It was getting harder every day to use his Mangekyō Sharingan and his vision wasn't getting any better either. ' _Tsk. This is getting annoying... I didn't want to use '_ _ **Omoikane**_ _' on him but he wouldn't even let me say anything before he tried to attack us._ ', thought Naruto as he slightly winced from the pain in his left eye. Deciding to keep said eye closed a bit longer to acclimate to the pain, he gestured to Ikuho that their mission was accomplished and they wouldn't need to stay in the town any longer.

Nodding to her boyfriend's gestures both took to the rooftops, on their way back where they all separated. It didn't take long and they already saw Kimiko and Itachi waiting for them. Quickly nodding to each other, they began their journey back to the base. After all, today one year and a month had passed since they first arrived to help in this country's civil war. Soon they would be able to return home and see their friends and family again. But that wasn't what was important right now, no what was important was something else that arrived just yesterday...

* * *

 **Flashback, one day earlier**

 _Naruto and company were on their way towards Mei's tent as she had summoned them a few minutes prior to this moment. The one who told them to come to her tent, however, didn't mention why they were summoned. As such they shrugged and followed the order, heading there. It didn't take long, only a few minutes, and they arrived at her tent. From outside they could hear a few different groups talking. The first was, of course, Mei, Ao, and Chōjūrō; the next was Team Kakashi, consisting of Gai, Kakashi, Asuma, and Oyone; and lastly, there was a group that they couldn't place. Naruto, Kimiko, and Itachi were sure they had heard the voices before but weren't exactly sure who belonged to the voices._

 _Seeing only one way to find out and sate their curiosity, they nodded to the two guards before the tent and entered. They stumbled upon Mei conversing with the group of new arrivals, and Team Kakashi doing their usual stuff. Kakashi was reading his porn book, Asuma was smoking a cigarette, and Gai was on the ground doing push-ups, muttering something about youth. It was then they finally looked at the new arrivals and recognized them finally. They were the personal bodyguards of the current Hokage and the only ones next to Naruto and Kimiko's father to know the secrets of the '_ _ **Hiraishin no Jutsu**_ _' ('_ _ **Flying Thunder God Technique**_ _'). Yet they were only capable of performing the jutsu when they were standing in a specific formation, thus not really being their father's jutsu but rather a jutsu called '_ _ **Hiraijin no Jutsu**_ _' ('_ _ **Flying Thunder Formation Technique**_ _'). Their names were Shiranui Genma, Tatami Iwashi, and Namiashi Raidō._

 _That surely surprised all members of the original Team Naruto, aka all of them except for Ikuho, since they knew that they only left their father alone rarely, and it was even rarer for them to leave the village on a mission. Their curiosity now peaked they approached the group, "Genma, what are you doing here? It's not often you all leave the village.", asked Kimiko. Genma turned his head towards Team Naruto and everyone could see his expression change from normal to saddened. This caused them all, even Team Kakashi, to prepare themselves, as it was rare for Genma's face to show anything else but laziness._

 _Before they could ask what was up, Genma started talking, "It's the second reason we were sent here today. You haven't heard yet but the first reason is to sent Team Kakashi back to Konoha there's an academy student with a similar condition as Gai. As such he was ordered back and a relief team will arrive shortly. The second reason, however...", said Genma as his facial expression turned from sad to devastated, "Hokage-sama has become very ill.", said Genma as everyone's eyes widened in surprise and horror. In a millisecond Kimiko was at him and grabbed Genma's collar with both hands, an angry expression on her face, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH TOU-CHAN? ANSWER ME GENMA!". However, before Genma could answer, Raidō answered for him, "First, let him down, Kimiko-san. Second, according to our medic nins, Hokage-sama has contracted an illness that attacks the body's chakra system, as well as the nervous system. Our medic nin's managed to minimize the damage the illness caused in his body, but they could only do so much. They said it was already too far spread throughout his body. If they knew about it earlier they could've fought it, but at this moment only someone of Tsunade-sama's skill may be able to heal him, but only if she returns within the next month or so. Jiraiya-sama was already sent to search for her, but if they don't find her within the next month, the medic nins are afraid, Hokage-sama will never use a jutsu in his life again and will be confined to a wheelchair.", said Raidō in the same depressed voice that Genma used beforehand._

 _As he finished the sentence Kimiko let go of Genma and stepped back, a horrified expression on her face as did Naruto, while everyone else just had an extremely sad expression on their face, Kakashi a bit more than the others. As Kimiko stumbled back further, her back hit something. As she turned around she saw that she had hit her brother, whose own eyes were full of immense sadness and... was that a bit of hatred she saw in his eyes.? That would be a new one for her. In all her life she hadn't ever seen her brother hate somebody. But before she could ask she felt her brother pull her into a hug, and who was she to refuse a hug from her slightly elder brother when she was in need of emotional support._

 _As such she readily accepted the hug, and tears that before only threatened to fall, now fell freely from her face as she wailed in sadness. Naruto also was crying but he didn't make a single sound as he saw his sister so sad. How did it come to this? How did someone dare to make one of his family, his twin no less, to be this sad? But he knew there was no one to blame. Not the medic nins, not Genma, not Raidō and definitely not something as ridiculous as the whole world. But who he could blame maybe was Senju Tsunade. For some reason, the name 'Tsunade' already left behind a bitter taste in his mouth. If she wasn't found, then their father would be stuck in that condition forever. However only if... If she healed their father, he would immediately replace the hate he was feeling at the moment with gratitude. But as already said, only if..._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

Even if they were smiling and laughing in happiness today, they all still were very shaken and sad from the news delivered to them yesterday. To them, the Hokage was almost untouchable, and to hear he was defeated by an illness was unthinkable to them. Upon remembering the events of the last day, Kimiko looked towards her brother in worry. The day before she had ignored his look of hatred in favor of receiving emotional support from her brother, but now that she was able to think straight again, she wondered about her brother. Unknown to her, she wasn't the only one seeing Naruto's look the day before. Itachi and Ikuho had seen the expression as well and worried equally as much. They, like Kimiko, have never seen Naruto enraged or hateful in their life. Of course, Naruto tried to hide it back then, that's the reason his face didn't contort to one of anger or even hatred, but his eyes said it all. He hated either Senju Tsunade or the affliction plaguing their Hokage since the look only appeared after Tsunade's was name was mentioned in conjunction with the affliction.

Their thoughts, however, were interrupted when Naruto called them to attention, "We're almost back in the camp. Rest good tonight, you know what's happening tomorrow. We'll need all the rest we can get. Don't let the events of yesterday get in the way of your rest." said Naruto as they landed in front of the gates and he turned around, a small smile gracing his face. This small gesture reassured them that it was perhaps only the spur of the moment that caused Naruto to feel this tiny bit of hate. All three sighed in relief and smiled towards their team leader, "Got it, captain." Kimiko's and Ikuho's smiles were teasing, while Itachi's smile was more like an Uchiha-style smirk.

Naruto waved his hands before himself, "Please don't call me captain, you know I don't like it. And our team doesn't have a captain, in such a well-oiled machine a captain is unnecessary, remember?", said Naruto as he imitated his elder brother figure, Kakashi, and eye-smiled. Speaking of which, "Naruto, I'm proud you can eye smile this well already.", said a voice behind them. Turning around they faced Team Kakashi in all it's glory. Meaning, there was Kakashi holding his porn book, as always, with his only visible eye crying anime tears of joy and pride. Gai was doing push-ups, as usual, and Asuma was trying to get his cigarettes back from Oyone, who said that they were bad for his health. Asuma, in turn, denied all her statements and acted like a child by stomping on the ground and pouting. All in all, pretty normal for them, still it caused all of Team Naruto to have huge sweatdrops, as the three of the jōnin of the team were considered the elite of the village, and they all acted like children... well, like a porn-addicted child, a monster-training child, and a chain-smoking child.

They all respected Oyone for babysitting them the last year like she was their foster mother. She looked at Team Naruto and bowed while wishing them good luck and saying goodbye. After that, they all said their farewells, and Team Naruto even watched their forms grow smaller and smaller the longer they watched their retreating backs. After ten minutes they decided to hit the bed for some well-deserved rest. They went through the camp determined to reach their tents as fast as possible. It only took five minutes and they were at their adjacent tents. They wished each other goodnight and prepared for their sleep.

Tomorrow would be a hard and brutal day after all...

* * *

 **Author notes: Yeah, sorry for the long delay. I think it has been what like three almost four months since I last updated?**

 **At first, I was like, "Yeah, Imma make up a really good excuse like I was busy or something." In the end, I was even too lazy to even make up an excuse after all, although I must say it was hard for me to find a transition to the end of the Civil War Arc. It was a reason for the delay but mostly because I was waaaay too lazy to convince myself to work for it.**

 **I'm honestly not really proud of this chapter since I've first taken too long to finish it and secondly just filled it with mostly filler. Still, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see ya next time. See ya.**


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